Background

Amazon had declared its intention to take a stake in Deliveroo and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) needed to investigate the ramifications of such a move, and whether it would restrict consumer choice in the rapidly-evolving market of super-fast grocery delivery. One of the challenges was that research needed to understand the importance of different attributes of the various offerings and the trade-offs between them – as well as the choices between actual and hypothetical future services.

Approach

We used a mixed methodology approach to understand online grocery shopping behaviour, drivers of consumer choice and how this behaviour might change as new service offerings enter the market. Three phases of research with Amazon Prime Now and Deliveroo customers were conducted: depth interviews to explore how the services are used, cognitive testing of research materials and an online survey of over 3,000 customers who had used the services, recruited via SMS and email. The survey used a conjoint design to simulate the situation consumers are in when using OCG and to explore how choices might change as different forms of offer are provided.

Results

The CMA provisionally cleared Amazon’s investment in Deliveroo after the takeaway delivery firm warned it could collapse because of the coronavirus crisis. The official report from the CMA can be found here

The CMA finally cleared Amazon’s stake purchase in August this year.