South Korean coffee shop market leader reports surging beverage delivery as coronavirus continues to shift café trade onto digital platforms
Coronavirus restrictions have led to a surging delivery sales at South Korea's largest coffee chain
According to
The Korean Herald, Ediya Coffee said it received 1.1 million delivery orders between October 2019 and September 2020, a 612% year-on-year increase. The largest surge in delivery orders occurred between April and June 2020, when the coffee chain saw a near 1,000% year-on-year increase.
Ediya Coffee is South Korea’s largest coffee chain, with around 1,800 of its 3,000+ stores offering beverage delivery. In 2018, Ediya reported it had exceeded four million users on its Ediya Members app, which offers digital ordering, loyalty points and sales promotions.
Hospitality has been one of the hardest hit areas of South Korea’s economy during the coronavirus pandemic, with the rate of retail business closures in Asia's fourth largest economy the highest since 2009. Like much of the world, strict government rules have restricted coffee shops to takeaway trade and forced many operators to ramp up the availability of digital transactions to maintain sales.
South Korea is home to a fiercely competitive and densely populated coffee shop market where Ediya Coffee vies with Starbucks’ circa 1,400 stores, and fellow domestic giants A Twosome place and Mega Coffee, which both operate more than 1,000 stores each.