Go-Viet trumpets empty claims of leading food delivery?

Go-Viet's shining statistics are not better than the rest of the market in key metrics

According to the latest report published by market research firm GCOMM, the six most popular online food delivery apps in Vietnam are GrabFood, Now.vn, Go-Food, Lala, Vietnammm, and Lixi.

In the context of the fierce competition, Lala had to throw in the towel, admitting that it cannot keep up with Grab’s super app. The company switched to supplying sales solutions for restaurants. Besides, Ahamove transferred into providing transport solutions for e-commerce platforms, promising the fastest delivery time on the market.

Lack of drivers breaking dreams

A company’s true standing in the market comes from real comparison and independent survey, rather than the company itself. Go-Viet issued statistics to shot its leading position in the food delivery market, including 6 million cups of bubble tea delivered, while the number of meals, orders, and restaurant partners also soaring throughout its first year. In fact, the coverage of Go-Viet's drivers is still quite sparse on the street.

However, according to experts, the figures are not persuasive enough, as for instance Now is more of a household name thanks to their better driver coverage. A key to success could be delivery time, helping players determine their position in the market because the quality of the food mostly depends on its freshness. According to a recent survey by GCOMM, 65% of consumers agreed that time delivery is the most important factor to choose a food delivery service. In this regard, Grab easily beats competition while Ahamove has just a little smaller driver fleet of 60,000 who are always ready to lend a hand to apps lacking shippers.

Nguyen Thi Hoa, an office worker from Ho Chi Minh City, said that she is satisfied with the service quality of Grab and Now due to the suitable fees, short delivery time, and professional drivers.

“Friends kept recommending Go-Food to me because of their massive promotions and I decided to give them a whir, but I had to wait for a long time and the drivers kept calling me consecutively to confirm the address, which was inconvenient,” Hoa said.

Another survey of GCOMM that summarised responses from 600 customers in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in December 2018, showed that Grab ranks first in the food delivery market in customer satisfaction with service quality and delivery speed. The runners up are Now and Go-Food.

Position errors and poor treatment of drivers

According to customers, Go-Food cannot hold a candle to other players when it comes to service quality and delivery time due to the sparse coverage of its drivers. In addition, Go-Viet’s policy that allows customers to book more than one order at the same time also results in problem.

Working for Go-Viet from the first days, Nguyen Tan T. from Nha Be district said that working conditions and benefits to drivers were more attractive at the beginning. Now, Go-Viet has decreased massive incentive programmes for drivers and made the bonus policy stricter.

“The app often has errors in positioning, something drivers have been complaining about for so long, to no avail. Besides, in some cases, customers place the same order twice, and the driver arriving later is left hanging with the order in his hands,” T said.

Pham Minh T. from Ho Chi Minh City, who has been working for Go-Viet for two months, said, “The position error occurs very frequently and the real address is often 1-2 kilometres from the position located on the app. This forces drivers to keep calling customers to make sure of the address.

The war in the food delivery sector is becoming fiercer by the way as players are pouring money to get an edge and increase driver coverage – however, despite testaments and boasts by many, few can put a dent into Grab’s dominance.