Hana Financial Research Analyzes Delivery Apps: "Chicken on Saturday, Pizza and Jjajangmyeon on Sunday"

Preferred Foods by Day and Region
Delivery Demand Increased During COVID-19 Period

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Hana Bank analyzed payment data from delivery applications (apps) and found that preferences for delivery food vary by day of the week.

Even on weekends, Saturday and Sunday differ

Hana Financial Management Research Institute, under Hana Bank, announced on the 11th that it obtained these results by analyzing delivery app payment data from Hana Card. According to the Hana Financial Management Research Institute's report titled "Delivery App Usage Status and Demand Characteristics by Menu Type," delivery demand increased as the weekend approached. The number of uses increased by 56% on Sunday compared to Monday, and the amount spent increased by 66% on Saturday compared to Monday.

Even on weekends, food preferences differed by day. On Friday and Saturday, when company dinners and gatherings are frequent, the most in-demand delivery food was "chicken." On Saturday, the number of uses for chicken (70%), jokbal and bossam (93%), and late-night snacks (73%) increased the most compared to Monday. On Sunday, demand for pizza (99%), Chinese food (92%), and fast food (41%) increased more. This was interpreted as a higher demand for lighter meals compared to Saturday.

Higher demand with higher proportion of people in their 30s and single-person households

The delivery status by region was also analyzed. Comparing the top 20 administrative neighborhoods with high delivery demand in Seoul, it was found that the higher the proportion of people in their 30s, the more the cumulative amount spent and number of uses per person increased proportionally. Yeoksam 1-dong in Gangnam-gu, which has the highest proportion of people in their 30s, had 1.6 times more delivery demand compared to Guro 1-dong, which had the second highest demand.

Shillim-dong and Nonhyeon 1-dong, which have a high proportion of single-person households or fewer people per household, also had relatively higher cumulative amounts spent per person. Additionally, administrative neighborhoods with higher average annual household income also showed higher cumulative amounts spent per person.

In some administrative neighborhoods, demand was more concentrated on specific foods. Chinese food demand was relatively higher in Guro 5-dong, Guro-gu and Doksan 1-dong, Geumcheon-gu; Japanese food, sashimi, and tonkatsu demand was higher in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu; and pizza demand was higher in Yongsin-dong, Dongdaemun-gu.

Meanwhile, Yeoksam 1-dong, which has many offices and officetels, has a high proportion of single-person households and people in their 30s, with the 20s and 30s age group accounting for 74% of the total amount spent. This area had relatively the highest demand for Korean food, with the number of uses 1.6 times higher than chicken, which was the second most demanded food.

On the other hand, Yeoksam 2-dong, where schools are concentrated, has a relatively higher proportion of households with three or more people and people in their 40s, with the 30s and 40s age group accounting for 70% of the total amount spent. Unlike Yeoksam 1-dong, there was almost no difference in demand between Korean food and chicken in this area.

Both usage and amount increased during the COVID-19 period

Meanwhile, analyzing data from major delivery apps paid with Hana Card OneQ Pay from January 2020, before the full outbreak of COVID-19, to December last year, it was found that the total number of uses and total amount spent on delivery apps increased by 29% and 35%, respectively, during this period.

The average monthly number of delivery app uses per person increased from 4.1 in January 2020 to 5.4 in December 2021, which corresponds to using delivery food about once a week on average. During the same period, the average monthly amount spent per person increased by 52%, from 88,000 KRW to 134,000 KRW. The amount spent per order also increased by 16%.

Sanghyun Park, a research fellow at Hana Financial Management Research Institute, explained, "Delivery app usage tendencies vary according to regional characteristics such as age group population composition, number of people per household, and household income. Through this, it is expected to help understand local delivery markets, consumption characteristics by menu type, and menu preferences by age group, which will be useful for future marketing for small business owners and understanding regional economies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.