Delivery Order No.1 in Seoul 'OO-dong'... "Chicken on Saturday, Pizza on Sunday"

Higher Delivery Demand with Increasing Single-Person Households
Menu Choices for Lighter Meals Compared to Saturdays

There was also a difference in menu preferences between Saturday and Sunday. The menu with the highest delivery demand on Saturday was chicken.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Gun-chan] The administrative district with the highest delivery demand in Seoul was found to be Yeoksam 1-dong in Gangnam-gu. Analysis also showed that the preference for menus varies on weekends, with a higher proportion choosing "chicken on Saturdays and pizza on Sundays."

Hana Financial Management Research Institute of Hana Bank released a report titled "Status of Delivery App Usage and Demand Characteristics by Menu Type" on the 11th, analyzing payment data from Hana Card on delivery applications (apps). The data analyzed covers payments made with Hana Card on major delivery apps from January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic spread widely in Korea, through December 2021, after the fourth wave.

Analyzing the top 20 administrative districts with high delivery demand in Seoul, districts in Gangnam, Seongbuk, and Mapo-gu were mainly included. Among the top 20 administrative districts, Yeoksam 1-dong ranked first. The number of delivery orders in Yeoksam 1-dong was over approximately 160,000, and the transaction amount exceeded about 3.5 billion KRW. This is about 1.6 times higher in both order count and amount compared to Hwagok 1-dong in Gangseo-gu, which ranked second in demand.

Compared to Yeoksam 1-dong, the nearby Yeoksam 2-dong showed lower demand. Although the registered population of Yeoksam 1-dong and 2-dong is similar at around 36,000 people, the number of delivery orders differed by nearly double.

This is interpreted as stemming from differences in household size. According to statistics from the Seoul Open Data Plaza, the number of single-person households in Yeoksam 1-dong is about 12,000, nearly three times more than the approximately 4,000 households in Yeoksam 2-dong. The reason for the difference in household size between these two adjacent administrative districts in Gangnam-gu is due to their distinct characteristics. Yeoksam 1-dong mainly consists of commercial facilities and officetels, whereas Yeoksam 2-dong is densely populated with apartment complexes around four elementary, middle, and high schools.

Map of the top 20 administrative neighborhoods with the highest delivery demand in Seoul.
/Photo by Hana Bank Hana Financial Management Research Institute report

According to the report, university areas with a high proportion of single-person households tend to have higher delivery demand. Among the top 20 administrative districts, Anam-dong in Seongbuk-gu ranked third in delivery order volume. According to Seoul city statistics, Anam-dong has a registered population of about 15,000, which is the third smallest in Seongbuk-gu.

Despite the small population, the high proportion of single-person households attending nearby universities is believed to drive the high delivery demand. Anam-dong is home to universities such as Korea University and Sungshin Women's University, forming a cluster of one-room apartments where students live alone. Additionally, the university commercial district centered on dining establishments is well developed, providing many delivery restaurants accessible to single-person households living in one-room apartments.

The report also found that delivery app orders increase as the weekend approaches, with differences in menu preferences between Saturday and Sunday. The number of delivery orders on Sunday increased by 56% compared to Monday, and the transaction amount on Saturday increased by 66% compared to Monday.

The most popular delivery menu on Saturdays was chicken. On Saturdays, orders for chicken (70%), jokbal and bossam (93%), and late-night snacks (73%) increased the most compared to Monday. In contrast, on Sundays, orders for pizza (99%), Chinese food (92%), and fast food (41%) increased. This is interpreted as a higher demand for lighter meal options on Sundays compared to Saturdays.

Delivery demand using delivery apps increased more in 2021 than in 2020. The average monthly number of delivery app orders per person rose from 4.1 in January 2020 to 5.4 in December 2021. During the same period, the average monthly spending per person increased by 52%, from 88,000 KRW to 134,000 KRW, and the average spending per order also increased by 16%.

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