New data from Just Eat reveals a significant shift in consumer habits with retail orders doubling in just a year across the UK and Ireland, as customers use the app for a range of occasions outside of traditional takeaways – from everyday essentials and working from home emergencies to last-minute gifting.
Surge in demand for everyday essentials
With around 500 orders placed each minute, Just Eat customers are increasingly turning to the UK’s biggest on-demand delivery platform for everyday convenience. Among the most searched-for items are pet food, baby wipes, paracetamol and even pregnancy tests, highlighting the surging growth in store-to-door delivery of essential products in around 30 minutes. In 2024 alone, over two million health and personal care items were purchased via the app with orders placed around the clock.
To help meet this rising demand, Just Eat has partnered with Rowlands Pharmacy, the UK’s longest-established chain of community pharmacies. Building on Just Eat’s partnership with Boots, the collaboration with Rowlands will launch across 19 locations nationwide, offering fast access to a range of products, from pain relief to skin care and hygiene essentials.
Expanding beyond essentials: CeX joins Just Eat
In addition to healthcare, Just Eat is broadening its retail offering by teaming up with refurbished gaming and electronics retailer CeX to offer convenient access to the best-loved entertainment products in the UK.
Almost 400 CeX stores are now available on the platform, providing instant access to phone chargers, cables, headsets, video games, controllers and consoles from PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox. Every item comes with CeX’s industry-leading free five-year warranty.
A growing destination for on-demand shopping
In 2024, Just Eat launched major new partnerships with Waitrose, Love Honey and Cardfactory helping increase the number of restaurants and retailers available on the platform by 15% year on year. With around 18 million customers wanting on-demand delivery, Just Eat is now available across 97% of the UK. The growing appetite for an increasingly broad range of items means the platform’s traditional evening peak is being surpassed by demand for round-the-clock convenience.
Claire Pointon, managing director of Just Eat UK & Ireland, said: “Shopping habits are evolving as people demand greater speed, convenience, and choice. In the early 2000s, convenience meant your newspaper would arrive by 8am. Then retailers introduced next-day delivery. Today, time is more precious than ever, and customers want not only food but a range of essentials at the door in around 30 minutes.
“We’re proud of Just Eat’s roots supporting high street stores since 2006. As retail spaces evolve into leisure and experiential destinations, we’re bringing an increasingly diverse mix of our longstanding independent partners and Britain’s best-loved brands, into people’s homes. Whether it’s a phone charger from CeX, last-minute birthday flowers, or paracetamol from your community pharmacy, we’re making life a little easier for millions of people by delivering everyday essentials whenever and wherever they’re needed.”
Nigel Swift, deputy CEO Phoenix UK and MD Rowlands director, said: “I’m delighted Rowlands Pharmacy has partnered with Just Eat to bring our extensive range of health products directly to customers, quickly and conveniently. As a business with a proud heritage dating back to 1810, we’ve always evolved to meet the changing needs of our communities. This collaboration is another step forward, making it easier than ever for people to access the products they need, when and where they need them. Convenience and accessibility are key in today’s environment, and this partnership reinforces our commitment to delivering exactly that.”
David Butler, CeX director, said: “We’re delighted to expand the reach of CeX to millions of Just Eat customers, making it even faster for them to get the tech treats on demand. Just Eat customers can now enjoy the most popular CeX products and quality items, all covered by CeX’s un-rivalled free 5-year warranty, but straight to your door. With over 30 years of retail experience, we know our tech and are excited to be innovators in offering convenient access to the best-loved entertainment products in the UK”.
