Grocery and food delivery apps set record days of app downloads

[Shawn Knight]

Unprecedented: The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is rapidly reshaping the daily lives that we’ve all grown comfortable with, forcing millions to work from home and forego public gatherings in an attempt to slow down its spread.

Public officials have been advising communities to participate in “social distancing” and based on some interesting data from analytics and intelligence firm Apptopia, people are indeed heeding the warnings.

Interest in grocery delivery apps has spiked in the US over the past few days as the seriousness of the coronavirus is starting to sink in. Just yesterday, for example, Walmart Grocery, Instacart and Shipt , which is owned by Target, all set new records for daily app downloads.

Comparing average daily downloads in February to yesterday’s (March 15), Instacart, Walmart Grocery and Shipt have seen surges of 218%, 160% and 124%, respectively.

What does this mean for food delivery apps like GrubHub, Uber Eats, Postmates and DoorDash? Only time will tell.

Target’s mobile app, meanwhile, has climbed to around 55K downloads over the last month.

All said, if you’re elderly or are at risk, it’s probably best to get someone else to do your shopping on your behalf like a trusted friend or family member or perhaps even a member of your church. If all else fails, look into one of the aforementioned grocery or food delivery service. Above all, you’ve got to eat!

Masthead credit: Groceries by Atstock Productions. Charts by Apptopia.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/84415-grocery-food-delivery-apps-set-record-days-app.html

 

[Yynxs]

Target’s mobile app, meanwhile, has climbed to around 55K downloads over the last month.

All said, if you’re elderly or are at risk, it’s probably best to get someone else to do your shopping on your behalf like a trusted friend or family member or perhaps even a member of your church. If all else fails, look into one of the aforementioned grocery or food delivery service. Above all, you’ve got to eat!

Wife is a long time Target app user. We started delivery weeks ago. They, and most of the local stores, are out of flour, milk, and other staples. 'Just in time', with the consequent reduction in spoilage losses, only works with a fully functional trucking industry and personnel to man it and stocking the shelves.

Somewhere out there, the rest of the preppers are smiling over their reconstituted meals.

 

[Uncle Al]

With things as they are this is "probably" a great feature but the first question is Are these stores checking their employee's for temperature and symptoms daily? If not they are contributing to the problem in a MAJOR way. An infected person handling every item with a virus that can exist on surfaces up to 3 days can be a disaster! Haven't seen a statement from any of the major retailers yet on this subject .....

 

[Yynxs]

With things as they are this is "probably" a great feature but the first question is Are these stores checking their employee's for temperature and symptoms daily? If not they are contributing to the problem in a MAJOR way. An infected person handling every item with a virus that can exist on surfaces up to 3 days can be a disaster! Haven't seen a statement from any of the major retailers yet on this subject .....

We've been betting on the latter. We are getting deliveries to the garage and wiping down the plastics in rubber gloves with 90% rubbing alcohol. Even then I'm nervous about opening items and use work gloves in the kitchen unless I'm handwashing dishes.

Until the last 20 hours news, my methods seemed excessive. Now, it looks more and more like an official recommended standard. also, I'm running out of Ramen.