Winter is HOT for Delivery
Delivery orders increase at times of lower in-store traffic
When in-store sales slow, delivery generally increases
What do poor weather, lazy Saturday afternoons, and house parties have in common? They are all peak times for delivery and, conversely, tend to be slow times in-store for sales. Delivery is not only a great mechanism for dramatically increasing sales, but also a tool for smoothing out sales across the week and between seasons.
Cold, snowy days see massive spikes in sales
It’s no secret that bad weather encourages people to stay indoors. To see how dramatically this can impact deliveries, take a look at the last three days of sales in the Midwest during January 2019 — also known as the week of “Snowpocalypse” — when the temperature dropped to -30°F with heavy snow.
Average sales during the January cold front increased 50% over the average sales for that month. While inclement weather of any kind promotes online delivery sales, cold and snowy weather in particular provides a very significant increase in orders, while in-store may be seeing a dramatic decline from normal sales. Tips to drivers also increase when the weather is bad. GrubHub reports that their drivers’ average tips increase from 14% during normal weather to 25% during bad weather.
Weekend Sales
Weekends also generate a noticeable increase in sales relative to the weekdays, averaging over 25% higher on Saturdays:
The increase in deliveries on weekends is constant throughout the year and is not seasonal. Deliveries also stay strong later into the evening on weekends, particularly for alcohol sales.
Mid-day and early evenings are key for families with young children
Women make up 60% of orders on Vroom, and around 60% of them are between the ages of 25-44. Many of those are mothers with young children. This key demographic tends to buy a larger percentage of higher margin grocery and last-minute goods, and fewer lower margin alcohol and tobacco products.
John Nelson is the CEO of Vroom Delivery. For more information contact him at
or visit