Olympic 'Home Support' Heats Up... Delivery Orders Surge

Bureung, 18.8% Increase in Three Days After Opening · Barogo Also Nears 1.5 Million Orders on 24-25th
Delivery Demand Rises Amid COVID-19, Heatwave, and Olympics

As the excitement for cheering at the Tokyo Olympics, which opened on the 23rd, gradually heats up, delivery orders for 'home-stay cheering' are increasing. This is because the number of people staying at home during the afternoon hours when major games are held has significantly increased due to the resurgence of COVID-19 and the application of Level 4 social distancing. The ongoing heatwave has also influenced the increased demand for food to enjoy while watching the Olympic games at home. The combination of COVID-19, the heatwave, and the Olympics has driven the recent surge in delivery demand.

According to Mesh Korea on the 27th, the number of deliveries made over three days from the 23rd to the 25th, when the Olympics opened, through the distribution logistics brand 'Boorung' increased by 18.8% compared to the same period last month. Even looking at Seoul alone, deliveries increased by 16.3% compared to last month. At the delivery agency Barogo, the number of completed deliveries on the weekend of the 24th and 25th also rose by 18.4% compared to the previous month. On the last weekend of last month, June 26th and 27th, Barogo recorded 1,266,000 deliveries, but on the 24th and 25th of this month, when South Korea’s national team games were in full swing after the Olympics opening, deliveries surged to 1,499,000.

The delivery industry views that the demand is further increasing due to the large-scale sports event of the Olympics amid the already significant rise in deliveries caused by COVID-19 and the ongoing heatwave. In fact, Barogo’s data shows that on the weekend before the Olympics opening, the 17th and 18th, 1,442,000 deliveries were completed, which was already a significant increase compared to last month. The Olympics opening then brought about an additional rise of about 4%.

In the past, delivery orders have also shown a significant increase during large-scale sports events. According to Barogo, during the Korean Series of professional baseball last year, from November 18th to 24th, the number of deliveries increased by 10.2% compared to the previous week. Looking at data before the spread of COVID-19, on November 19th, 2019, when the football friendly match between South Korea and Brazil was held, the number of deliveries was 11.3% higher than the same day of the previous week. Especially, deliveries between 7 PM and 11 PM, when many deliveries occur, increased by 15.9% that day.

It is also analyzed that the relatively few international competitions involving the South Korean national team since the spread of COVID-19 is related to the interest in this Olympics and the resulting increase in delivery demand. As medal news from the South Korean team has been coming in after a long time, the cheering excitement is heating up, naturally increasing delivery orders as well. A delivery industry official said, "With the resurgence of COVID-19, social distancing, and the heatwave making 'home-stay' the norm, the large-scale sports event of the Olympics has overlapped, greatly increasing delivery orders," adding, "The industry is focusing on matching delivery demand and rider supply to prepare for possible issues such as delivery delays."