Philippine Startup ‘City Delivery’ Doesn’t Just Deliver Your Lunch

A number of food delivery startups are now filling stomachs across Asia. One of them is Rocket Internet’s FoodPanda which is now growing strong in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, there’s City Delivery. But it looks like this startup has now shifted to being more than a food delivery service.

City Delivery launched in the Philippines in 2010 offering an online food delivery service from local restaurants. Like other such services, people can just login to its website and they can have access to food choices from an array of restaurants in the capital area. Today, City Delivery already has over 350 restaurant and food partners. City Delivery’s bonus feature is that it also partners with weekend markets, caterers, and home-based businesses. This number seems to be growing as it continues to add new partners every month.

Venturing out

Shortly after its launch, City Delivery did not limit itself to food deliveries as it started to offer delivery of non-food items as well. It has partnered with pharmacies, flower shops, and supermarkets to widen its scope.

Expanding further, it now offers the pickup and delivery of gadgets for repair such as laptops, cameras, and printers. City Delivery is providing this by being the logistics arm of Affiliated Electronics Service Corporation, a local service center of appliance centers in Metro Manila. Apart from deliveries, it also provides courier services to pick up and send documents and other packages. Currently, City Delivery’s services are divided into food, groceries, and couriers.

The startup is also expanding in some of the southern provinces like Laguna and Cavite. It’s not clear what level of revenue City Delivery is gaining from all these restaurant and retail store partnerships. But it seems to be tapping into the growing e-commerce sector in the Philippines. Early this year, it also launched its City Delivery iOS app, which allows customers to order via their iPhones.

Online food delivery services have not yet gained momentum in the Philippines, in contrast to general e-commerce sites like Rocket Internet’s Zalora and Lazada, or daily deals offerings such as MetroDeal. But there are already a few other food delivery services present in the Philippines, such as QuickDelivery.ph and Delivery.ph. But City Delivery is keen to stand out with its mix of both food and non-food items.

(Editing by: Steven Millward and Anh-Minh Do)