Screenagers: The techno-geeks propelling the food delivery growth

“Visual content keeps us alive; content and food. Don't forget food. It is life delivered to your doorstep.”

‘I just want to binge watch something on You Tube or Netflix, may be the most talked about stand-up comedy of Dave Chappelle or Louis C.K., and eat something sumptuous as a lasagna or a timeless classic pizza served hot, at the same time.’ If you find this feeling creeping into you or you know someone who feels that way and that too pretty often, this article should make for an interesting read.

Not just the way the world eats is changing considerably, but the way they use and stay glued to their gadgets and mobile screens has also witnessed a considerable shift over the last couple of years. In fact, the use of smartphones and other technological gadgets is one of the leading contributors that has resulted in shaping customer behaviors over time. One of the most important behavioral transformations have been seen in and around the food delivery industry. It has been revealed through some exhaustive studies that the content we consume through our eyes, has an impact on how much we eat. "The explanation for this food-smartphone relationship is relatively straightforward — the act of watching TV is a sedentary activity that encourages snacking," says Northup, a professor who undertook the study.

There would be a handful number of people who would deny the fact that in the past few years, the statistics for online food delivery and OTT subscriptions have been on a considerable rise. To this addition in numbers, screenagers have had a significant role to play. But, who are they?

Knowing about screenagers: The youth of the modern era poised to operate smartphones with utmost ease

A person in their teens or a person who is a young adult who has an aptitude for computers and mobile phones and spends a lot of time on the internet is called a screenager. In other words, a young person who spends a lot of time using computers, games consoles, smartphones, or watching television is known as a screenager. Though some Generation Y people can find the tag of being the screenagers, but the term should ideally and preferably be used for the Generation Z cohort. Call them Generation Z, the iGeneration or screenagers, it does not matter. They’ll be so engrossed in their smartphones and soaked up in technological gadgets they won’t hear you, let alone look up. And who can blame them? Smartphones and internet backed technological devices are bewitching little things, especially compared with the primitive Nokia phones doing the rounds when the first wave of Generation Z emerged wailing into the world around the year 1997. Since then, they have been found to be among the ones ordering food of their choice through various food delivery apps quite frequently. As hassling as it may sound to deal with the technicalities of ordering food online for an elderly person, easier and convenient it is for the screenagers- the youth who are driving the modern-day food deliveries.

Screenagers and food delivery

Lately, the role and contribution of screenagers has been quite noteworthy towards the food delivery industry. Back then around the year 2000-02, ordering food online was in the nascent stage or to say so, not in the advanced phase of its life cycle; as much as it is today. Just around two decades ago, given the poorly developed food delivery networks, reduced exposure to technology and less sources of information availability, ordering food online and finding it delivered to your doorstep in an instant, was rare and worth stimulating interest in individuals.

With Pizzanet, one of the earliest web-based food delivery sites and World Wide Waiter, with the tag of being the first online restaurant delivery service, debuting in the year 1994 and 1995 respectively, the game for the food delivery industry started to gain pace and it changed altogether in a few years. Food delivery, as of today has become pretty mainstream; courtesy to the contemporary youth in general exposed to their smartphone screens, and Generation Z in particular.

With the Generation Z or the screenagers quickly laying their hands upon every bit of existing and impending technology and showing a high rate of smartphone adoption, the game for food delivery industry was bound to change, as they quickly shifted gears. The food delivery was beginning to explode in popularity.

As smartphones became even more popular and their penetration intensified, food delivery software and apps came to dominate delivery services. As a result, not just the millennials but the digital natives who worked in offices, could enjoy the luxury of ordering food from their smartphones without having to step away from their desks, and people who decided they’d rather not cook after work could have dinner served to them with just a few taps on their smartphones.

Accepting the fact that the teens and youth of today are highly techno-savvy, the below given figure, as studied by the authors Eric Zion and Thomas Hollman, and published in Zion and Zion, makes it absolutely clear that the younger a person is, the more likely they are to order restaurant delivery using one of the food delivery services.

Now to this day we find that the way they ate food has changed considerably, and food delivery apps were at the center of such transformation. With smartphones in every college goer’s hand and with them being internet enabled, the screenagers or the so-called Generation Z has had a satisfactory contribution to make towards online food deliveries. The widespread availability and quick adoption of food delivery apps has certainly modified tastes and preferences and resulted in today’s generation wanting more and more food to be delivered to their homes and workplaces. They have become ravenous. People who mostly remain on their mobile phones, which in this case are the Generation Z and some of the Generation Y, make up for great contributors towards this food delivery space that is growing bigger with each passing day.

In a study by ‘The food institute’, it was revealed that consumers who use food delivery companies like UberEats, GrubHub and DoorDash in today’s times, generally tend to be young and wealthy. There are many such statistics that give us an impression of the amount of contribution the youth, including the millennials and Generation Z, have already made to the industry that is getting increasingly popular. Have a look.

Few statistics providing valuable insights about the youth of today and food delivery space-

• Digital ordering and delivery have grown 300% faster than dine-in traffic since 2014.

• 57% of millennials say that they have restaurant food delivered so they can watch movies and TV shows at home.

• It was predicted that orders placed via smartphone and mobile apps will become a $38 billion industry by the year 2020.

• 59% of restaurant orders from millennials are takeout or delivery.

• Nearly 75 percent of people are using mobile phones to order food, according to a story published in HotelTechReport.

• Millennials and Generation Z are spending a significant chunk of their paychecks on food delivery or at restaurants. After groceries, dining out is the second-highest monthly spending category for both generations.

• According to NPD Group, in the year ending December 2018, Generation Z customers made 552 million foodservice delivery orders.

• Virtual brand company Nextbite’s white paper revealed that 71% of survey respondents who said they ordered delivery weekly were either Millennials or customers belonging to Generation Z.

To put one other statistic in point over here, Generation Y and Generation Z, by virtue of staying glued to their mobile screens most of the time, are the main users of the some of the leading third-party food delivery providers- namely DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eats, platforms on which all orders are placed digitally. In fact, studies show that up to “54% of customers as young as 18 to 34 years are a monthly active user of at least one of these four food delivery companies.”

Wrapping up

The rapid progression in digital technologies, affordable internet and easy as pie accessibility to over-the-top (OTT) media streaming services and food delivery apps, binge watching and binge eating has become the new norm. So, being addicted to food as well as social media and OTT platforms just simply sums up the story of screenagers- the modern-day consumers in their youth, with smartphones in their minds, easy money in their pockets and some luscious food items on their minds. This makes for a riveting combination. No?

As long as the smartphone adoption rate gallops and food delivery software and app developing companies continue to get into and throng the food delivery space, online food deliveries are only going to pick up pace. Now, how immense a contribution would the techno-savvy consumers make to it, is a thing to be carefully watched out.

One thing which is sure is every time a new show airs on Netflix or Disney Hotstar, we, for reasons unknown to us as well, just browse through food delivery apps ravenously looking for a delectable food item on the list that can be combined so as to make for a perfect binge watch. Or don’t we?

‘Afterall, there is no love sincerer than the love of food especially when we remain glued to our mobile and television screens.’