Heightened demand for online grocery and food delivery services amid coronavirus outbreak

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The ongoing coronavirus epidemic is hurting the global economy and full recovery will likely be slow. However, as people remain indoor to reduce exposure, whether at home or in the office, the demand for online grocery and food delivery has picked up substantially.

In China, where the outbreak allegedly started, there was a 20 percent increase in spending on food deliveries during January. Sales of fresh food on JD.com jumped 215 percent to almost 15,000 tons for ten days in January. For the tens of millions of Chinese people quarantined at home, these deliveries have become an essential part of their daily lives.

Over in Singapore, eCommerce sites and online retailers for food and groceries have also chalked up more orders than usual, while delivery facilities are hitting capacity levels due to unprecedented demand. Meanwhile, in the U.S. who are starting to see more cases, there was more than a three percent increase of consumers over the last month choosing to order food and groceries online instead of going to the shops.