The sooner, the better? Interactions of stakeholders in online food delivery service platforms

Abstract

PurposeThis research aims to explore the interactions of stakeholders in online food delivery (OFD) platforms, including restaurants, the delivery system and the platform, and the effect on total sales. In order to comprehensively analyze the service of stakeholders, the authors adopted the time duration which provides a unified metric for assessing service performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model analysis to verify the interactions among restaurants, the delivery system, and the platform itself, and to assess their effects on the sales. Data were collected from one of the biggest OFD service platforms in China – Eleme.com.FindingsFirst, the findings confirmed that the service performance of restaurants, the delivery system and the platform itself influence one another. There is a bidirectional causality between food preparation time (FPT) and actual delivery time (ACDT), as well as between FPT and advance arrival time (ADAT), ACDT and ADAT. Second, the service performance of restaurants, the delivery system, and the platform itself all positively affect sales, thus demonstrating unidirectional causality.Originality/valueThe current research is a pioneering empirical study, as it confirms the dynamic interactions between participants in OFD platforms and the dynamic influence of their respective service performances on sales. The findings of this research have a number of implications for the management and operation of online food ordering and delivery platforms.