The war of the food delivery apps of the UAE may have gone too far. After ‘everything app’ Careem set up a compensation program for food delivery delays, its biggest competitor has seemed to imply a very pointed message: If you do this, bad things could happen.
UPDATE:
Under the initiative, customers will receive AED 1 for each additional minute of delay, with a maximum payout of AED10 per order.
Though this limited-time offer seems experimental, only being valid until June 8, the controversial scheme is sending the wrong message, says Deliveroo’s General Manager for the Middle East.
“Personally, I think a marketing campaign that is centered around delays has implications, implications in consumers’ minds, and maybe wider in the network. I’m aware of some of the backlash but I don’t think too much about their campaign,” Anis Harb, Vice President and Middle East General Manager of Deliveroo told Arabian Business.
With the app already receiving criticism from customers who feared how this pressure might affect driver’s safety, and reportedly assumed this refund policy would come out of drivers pockets, Harb is not alone in his sentiment that this scheme sends the wrong message.
“We don’t believe it’s the right message to send out and I don’t think it’s something that we want the Deliveroo brand really too closely connected to as well. The whole idea of just delays and implications… I think it’s something that we have veered away from in the past,” said Harb.
The UK based delivery app’s strategy has more been in tandem with customer needs and values, Harb said, aligning themselves with sustainable packaging, food bank services, the option to opt out of single-use plastic cutlery, and enhanced promotions during inflation spans.
With Deliveroo ending 2022 with nearly 19,000 restaurants, marking a 20 percent year-on-year increase and doubling its growth rate from previous years, it could be wise to take the established delivery giant’s advice.
Especially since Careem‘s newest scheme has been called a swing and a miss by local consumers, acting as a consolation prize on tardy deliveries, a sign of weakness rather than strength, some have commented.
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