This pizza delivery study may change the way sellers view delivery services well beyond the foodservice industry
What can a pizza shop teach us about the dramatic shifts taking place in consumer marketing? Quite a lot, actually. New research focused on pizza delivery has found that consumer impatience is driving so much consumer decision-making that even location, price and quality can take a back seat. While this study focused on pizza delivery, its findings have ramifications for all business-to-consumer…
Pizza delivery research at Purdue University reveals that consumer impatience has a profound impact on market dynamics, extending beyond the foodservice industry. The study, published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, analyzed nearly 98,000 pizza orders placed by over 6,800 consumers across 51 pizzerias in Northern Italy between 2010 and 2011.
The research challenges conventional wisdom that faster delivery expands consumer choice and intensifies competition, instead finding that impatience fragments the market and protects lower-quality providers.
Seol and Rossi found that consumers place more orders with the fastest-delivering establishment, while delivery time reductions valued by the median consumer exceed 20% of the order price. When delivery times fall by more than 75%, high-quality sellers gain market share, and many lower-quality businesses leave. The findings suggest that platforms can capitalize on consumer impatience by offering premium, faster delivery services at a price premium, increasing platform profits by 18.7%.
The study's implications extend to all business-to-consumer firms, emphasizing the need to recognize the dual role of delivery speed in shaping market structure and competitive dynamics.
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