Rapid delivery has hit its highest share of online grocery sales for the year so far, according to latest NIQ data.
Fmcg sales via quick commerce services like Deliveroo, Uber Eats and supermarkets’ own rapid delivery apps hit 14% of all online grocery sales on the day of the England football team’s World Cup quarter-final match, the data shows.
And it comes as overall online sales outperformed every other grocery channel, in the four weeks to 11 July, with value sales increasing 9% and unit sales up 4.3% on the previous four-week period.
“Celebrations drove a significant boost in rapid delivery, with fans turning to quick grocery services for matchday essentials,” NIQ said.
The rival rapid grocery services mounted major campaigns around the World Cup – Deliveroo temporarily changing its brand to ‘Believeroo’ in newspaper and news site front-page adverts, while Uber Eats ran TV ads starring Gordon Ramsay criticising home chefs’ matchday cooking choices. Deliveroo was also an official tournament sponsor.
Co-op, Waitrose, Boots, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco all extended on-demand delivery hours to allow for app orders during late night kick-offs, the latter offering free Whoosh delivery on the day England played Norway.
Sales data around England game against Norway shared by Deliveroo shows in the two hours before kick off, popcorn orders were up nearly 30% on the previous week, crisps nearly 15% and ice cream up a fifth. The morning after the match rehydration drink orders were up by more than 10% and juice and smoothie orders were up nearly 15% “as fans reached for something to get their energy levels up” the aggregator app said. Fry-up ingredients (including bacon, sausage and eggs) were up nearly 7%.
According to NIQ, the only time rapid delivery’s share spike has been surpassed in recent times was on Christmas Eve last year when it reached 23.1% share of online fmcg sales and New Year’s Eve 2025, when it reached 16.2%.
While awareness of rapid grocery delivery services is relatively high – with 67% of British adults saying they have heard of them, according to YouGov research – usage remains low.
The majority (75%) of Brits surveyed by YouGov in March said they had never used quick commerce services, while 13% did so less than once a month.
Younger consumers showed slightly higher engagement, with 4% of 18 to 24-year-olds reporting daily use, “but this still represents a niche behaviour” YouGov said.
Order values are generally modest, the research group found. The largest share of users spend £20 to £29.99 per order (31%), while a further 25% typically spend £10 to £19.99.
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