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Food delivery app enters new race

The online food delivery market in Vietnam is entering a new competitive phase, after many years of rapid growth thanks to foreign capital and a "money-burning" promotion strategy.

Báo Tuổi TrẻBáo Tuổi Trẻ12/07/2025

app giao đồ ăn - Ảnh 1.

The food delivery market via apps is entering a period of harsh screening - Photo: QUANG DINH

The withdrawal of many international businesses is opening up opportunities for domestic platforms, while forcing remaining apps to adjust their business models to be more sustainable.

Promotion is not enough

As consumers increasingly expect higher delivery speed and service quality, food delivery platforms are under pressure to innovate their business models.

Thuy Trang, a frequent food ordering app owner from Ho Chi Minh City, said that she used to compare 2-3 apps to choose promotions. In return, orders were often late, drivers combined multiple orders, and sometimes had to wait 20-30 minutes for delivery.

"When the driver uses the order-sharing policy, when it's my turn to receive the food, it's cold and not delicious at all," said Ms. Trang, adding that recently she has prioritized faster delivery speed.

A Q1-2025 survey by Rakuten Insight, an online market research platform of Rakuten Group (Japan), showed that in Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Can Tho, only 26% of users chose the app because of its low price, while 47% considered delivery time an important factor and 41% appreciated the accuracy and professionalism of the driver.

According to Tuoi Tre , the technology food delivery market in recent years has been an extremely hot "battlefield" with a series of international names pouring capital and offering massive promotions to attract customers.

However, the situation is changing rapidly as many international unicorns withdraw, opening up space for domestic competitors. While GrabFood and ShopeeFood still dominate the market share with more than 95%, a new domestic name Xanh SM Ngon under the VinGroup ecosystem has officially joined the playground since May 2025.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, CEO of GSM, the operator of Xanh SM, said that as a new participant, the company does not follow the crowd or promote heavily but focuses on the sustainability of each order and each experience.

"Consumer trends are also changing, so we have implemented a "no-combining" policy to help ensure that the food reaches customers hot and complete, limiting errors," said Mr. Thanh.

App giao đồ ăn vào đường đua mới - Ảnh 2.

Beamin has withdrawn from the food delivery market, but many other "talents" are still in the race - Photo: TTO

Competitive pressure remains fierce

Along with the rapid development, many of these business models have also revealed shortcomings. One of the common complaints from eateries is the high commission rates from food delivery platforms, ranging from 20 - 30% per order, not to mention advertising fees.

"Selling through the app seems easy but it's not. There's an order of 100,000 VND, the app takes 30%, I have 70,000 VND left, after deducting most of the costs, the profit is very thin," said Mr. The Dinh, owner of a Central Vietnamese food chain in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to online food delivery businesses, not only in Vietnam, the food delivery market around the world is also going through a period of adjustment after the COVID-19 pandemic fever. When demand explodes, companies are massively recruiting drivers and launching promotions to gain market share.

In developed markets like the US and South Korea, where consumer behavior has stabilized, food delivery apps are gradually shifting to a subscription model, upgrading technology and services instead of short-term promotions. However, in Vietnam, the habit of "deal hunting" makes it impossible for many businesses to ignore the race for incentives.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Luan, CEO of Meet More, believes that in the coming time, the competition between large platforms such as ShopeeFood, GrabFood, beFood and Xanh SM Ngon will certainly be more fierce and unpredictable. This is still the stage where parties are pumping in a lot of capital to gain a foothold. Everyone wants to win and retain customers at all costs, literally and figuratively.

At this time, consumers are benefiting the most as applications are almost forced to continuously launch shipping promotions, discount codes, savings combos... to retain customers.

That makes the market more vibrant, stimulating the demand for food delivery services, which are becoming more and more popular in urban life. Food delivery companies still accept selling below cost, sacrificing profits to "lock in" customers.

According to Mr. Luan, many people simply think that cheap food delivery is consumer welfare, but behind it is a difficult business problem. No one dares to confirm when there will be a profit because the cost of keeping customers is too high.

"Meanwhile, Vietnamese consumers' psychology is very flexible. They install many apps and choose the best promotion places. This makes it difficult to increase service prices in the short term, forcing apps to balance between retaining customers and ensuring profits," Mr. Luan commented.

Use technology to attract customers

According to Momentum Works, Vietnam's food delivery revenue will reach about 1.8 billion USD in 2024, up 26% compared to the previous year and is forecast to reach 9 billion USD by 2030. However, this "pie" is divided extremely fiercely when only a few big names hold almost the entire market share.

When Vingroup's ecosystem entered the food delivery market, "giants" like ShopeeFood and GrabFood did not stand aside, finding many ways to attract users. ShopeeFood has just launched the "One person eats" collection with a uniform price of 39,000 VND, targeting individual customers, especially Gen Z, a group of young people who need to order quickly and eat quickly.

The platform also promotes artificial intelligence (AI), increases livestreaming, thereby creating a trend of unique culinary discovery combined with entertainment. GrabFood also expands Restaurant Vouchers, promotions up to 50%, applies AI to personalize the experience and even develops a livestream channel to explore cuisine.

Meanwhile, Lalamove, which is strong in express delivery, is also launching ride-hailing and food delivery services. Bolt from Europe is rumored to enter Vietnam in 2025, further heating up the competition.

TRUST

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/app-giao-do-an-vao-duong-dua-moi-20250712232231241.htm


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