{"id":642858,"date":"2026-04-23T10:37:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=642858"},"modified":"2026-04-23T10:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:39:24","slug":"south-africans-cutting-down-on-uber-eats-and-mr-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/banking\/642858-south-africans-cutting-down-on-uber-eats-and-mr-d.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africans cutting down on Uber Eats and Mr D"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans spent more money on online grocery orders in 2026, while cutting down on restaurant visits and takeaway orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Discovery Bank and Visa’s SpendTrend26 report, the channels consumers used for food-related spending were changing rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Online grocery shopping remains one of the fastest-growing everyday spending channels, while in-store grocery spending has softened,” Discovery Bank said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online grocery spending increased by 13% in 2025, building on 15% growth in 2024. In-store grocery spending decreased by 5%, swinging from a 6% increase in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the SpendTrend26 survey, 79% of South Africans said they bought groceries online for convenience and time saving, while 46% cited avoiding crowds, parking and queues as their primary motivations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Other important reasons include better availability and easier browsing, better prices and easier comparison, and the greater discipline of shopping online with fewer temptations,” the bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery Bank said the trends suggested that digital grocery shopping was becoming embedded in South Africa’s everyday routines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One noteworthy trend in the report was that clients aged 31 to 40 years accounted for the highest share of online grocery spending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This indicates that digital grocery shopping is no longer driven only by younger consumers,” Discovery Bank said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Instead, it is becoming a mainstream behaviour across life stages, particularly among consumers balancing busy routines with convenience.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank also shared details about the most popular days for grocery shopping. For online orders, most South Africans shopped on Sunday, while in-person shops mostly happened on Saturdays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This suggests that many households are using online channels for planned weekly shopping while still relying on physical stores for concentrated weekend top-ups and preparation for the week,” the bank said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most popular retailers for in-store shopping were Checkers, Food Lover’s Market, Pick n Pay, Spar, and Woolworths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top online grocery platforms were Checkers Sixty60, Pick n Pay Asap, Spar2U, UCook, and Woolworths Online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery Bank said the prominence of these apps reinforced how convenience, delivery and curated grocery solutions were reshaping everyday food shopping habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spending on restaurants and takeaways declined<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The prepared foods industry saw a significant decline in activity in 2025, with dining-out spending dropping 4%, a sharp reversal from the 13% increase in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, weekly restaurant visits were becoming less frequent, with 16% of South Africans eating out once or twice per week, compared to 22% in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While overall spending on takeaways increased, the overall frequency of takeaway purchases declined. Where 40% of consumers ordered takeaways weekly in 2024, only 27% did the same in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This suggests households are becoming more selective about when and how often they order food, balancing convenience with affordability,” Discovery Bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most popular online takeaway apps were Kauai, KFC, Mr D, Nando’s, and Uber Eats. For in-person dining, the top five options were KFC, McDonald’s, Mugg & Bean, Nando’s, and Spur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Large restaurant networks with wide national footprints and drive-through accessibility continue to dominate everyday dining choices,” Discovery Bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While convenient, apps like Uber Eats and Mr D have often been criticised for high fees and commissions that force businesses on their apps to charge much higher prices on items than when bought in-store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, several MyBroadband analyses<\/a> have found that products on Uber Eats can be 20% to 45% more expensive than when bought directly from the shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some takeaway establishments also offer dedicated apps with higher flat delivery fees instead of higher product prices, similar to the approach taken by on-demand grocery delivery apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband found that customers often don’t have to spend much on an order before the flat delivery option works out cheaper than using Uber or Mr D.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discovery Bank’s latest SpendTrend report found that South Africans were not buying takeaways as frequently in 2025 as in 2024, but online grocery shopping surged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":642892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10106],"tags":[38880,104762,104761,35236,899],"class_list":["post-642858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-discovery-bank","tag-spendtrend-2026","tag-spendtrend26","tag-uber-eats","tag-visa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642858"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643040,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642858\/revisions\/643040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}