Google tests food delivery app Areo in two Indian cities

Google has pilot launched a new food delivery app in India that will allow consumers to order food deliveries through trusted service providers.

Rolling out first across Mumbai and Bangalore, Google Areo will facilitate food delivery from consumers’ favourite restaurants and chefs, alongside home services like electricians and plumbers.

The user interface gives users a wealth of options, allowing them to choose between dishes, restaurants and dietary preferences.

The presumption would be that, if the app takes off in Bangalore and Mumbai, the platform could be extended to other urban areas in both India and abroad.

Analysis: Google’s move into food
By Alex Clere

Google has sensed that it has the resources to muscle in on the food industry, and – along with Amazon – it might just be right. Its voice-activated assistant, Google Home, already facilitates home delivery with early adopters like Domino’s Pizza adding it to their range of payment platforms. Perhaps its biggest rival in food e-commerce, Amazon already launched a grocery delivery service and looks set to add bricks-and-mortar convenience stores in the US in the near future. It adds to a wealth of next-generation options in the food retail and delivery space, including delivery drones, driverless vehicles and supermarkets that you can just walk out of.

But food delivery apps is a saturated and competitive market, and it will take a company with Google’s dominance to make a new offering work. In the UK, one of the market’s biggest names, Just Eat, agreed to acquire its nearest competitor for £200 million in December after adding food delivery platforms in four countries earlier in the year. In 2015, the company bailed from its Indian operations following less-than-desired performance, choosing instead to focus on its core markets. The deal allowed Foodpanda to bolster its position in the Indian market, with Just Eat retaining a minority stake in Foodpanda’s Indian business.