Kiwi firm taking on UberEats looks to expand

Nick Foster and Tim Robinson, co-founders of online delivery platform Delivereasy, describe their plans for the business and how they compete against big multinational players in a crowded market.

What does your business do?

Delivereasy
gives Kiwis a way to get their favourite restaurant, drink and convenience items delivered asap from great retailers and merchants.

What was the motivation to start it?

We both always had ambitions to do our own thing and start a venture, but everything came together when we noticed the success of similar delivery models overseas and thought Kiwis deserved that same level of on-demand convenience.

We launched Delivereasy before any of the other big players landed on our shores, so we saw an opening and ran at it with everything we had!

What sets you apart from competitors such as UberEats?

We started right here in New Zealand and are proud that we’re still fully Kiwi-owned and -operated. We genuinely care about driving positive outcomes for all our restaurant and driver partners, and a huge part of our company culture is ensuring we maintain a more personable and positive Kiwi approach to business.

Where are you in terms of your growth trajectory in New Zealand?

It’s been a huge few years for Delivereasy – reflected in our making the top 10 of the Deloitte Fast 50 for the past three award seasons. It’s a very small group of companies that have met that milestone and we’re humbled to be counted among them. Until now, we’ve been focused on regional expansion to ensure we’re helping retailers meet their customers’ convenience expectations in as many locations as possible.

We’re proud that Delivereasy now operates almost everywhere from Whangārei to Invercargill. The next step as we look to maintain our growth trajectory is expanding the breadth of what we can offer. Ultimately, we’d like to deliver anything that could be delivered on demand. We’ve grown substantially over the last few years to the point where we’re doing an order almost every 5 seconds, which is pretty cool, but we’ve definitely got ambitions to grow beyond that.

How big is the market you operate in?

We operate in a highly competitive market that “big delivery” multinational competitors seek to dominate. We compete directly with UberEats, MenuLog and DoorDash – global giants with massive operational and marketing resources. Statista predicts meal delivery growth to increase by 5.24 per cent per year in New Zealand. We have seen demand surge over the past two years with a 435 per cent jump in revenue.

What’s the major focus for the business right now?

Delivereasy’s major focus is on expanding the breadth of our offering so that we can deliver to our customers on more occasions, more often. We are looking at delivering restaurant, grocery, retail, pharmacy, beverages and more within the next 12 months.

Do you have international growth plans?

Our immediate focus is on the Aotearoa New Zealand domestic market. While competition has increased, there’s still a lot of additional value we can offer New Zealanders. That said, we’re agile and always on the lookout for the next opportunity, whether it be in Aotearoa or beyond.

How have you funded the business?

It was primarily bootstrapped. We started by scraping together $2000 between the three founders – a lot of money to risk for three twenty-somethings, but we all believed wholeheartedly in the idea and were determined to give it a shot. The first year or so was tough – moonlighting on Delivereasy as we worked full-time jobs during the day and then jumped on our scooters to make deliveries in the evenings.

This was a ground-up business – the only backers we had was ourselves. Expectations were low, resources were limited and we couldn’t live above our means. But we all believed in the idea because we’d seen it skyrocket overseas.

Once we felt confident we had a business that could really be something, we did a small capital raise between close family and friends. We’ve always had a focus on making sure the model was sustainable and could support itself.

You already have some heavyweight investors such as Simon Botherway and Paul Glass. What does Simon bring to the business by having a seat on the board?

The size we’re at now means that it made sense to adopt a governance structure that matched the maturity of the business. As we’ve grown, we wanted to attract shareholders who shared our vision and aspirations – our register now has a number of well-known investors. Simon’s experience in equity markets and governance has been hugely valuable as we position ourselves for the next stage of growth.

What are the key challenges facing the business?

Our industry has experienced a phase of hyper-growth during the last few years as the pandemic influenced shopping behaviour, but it’s no secret that 2023 presents a tougher economic climate for New Zealanders and retailers. Our key challenge moving forward is overcoming these headwinds, but we feel optimistic about our direction and the team we have in place to help Delivereasy unlock the next phase of sustainable long-term growth. A desire for convenience is now bedded into what customers expect in a retail experience, and we’re looking forward to meeting that need in new and innovative ways.

We’ve seen some meal kit firms struggle with rising costs, how have you managed that?

As a delivery service, we don’t produce or price the meals so this isn’t something that we actively manage, but we are very conscious of inflationary pressures on the price of food for customers and the restaurant industry.

What advice can you give aspiring entrepreneurs?

If you think you’ve got a winning idea don’t wait or just dip your toes in. Go out there and give it a crack.