11 Apr 2025
E-Commerce

New UberEATS that teaches restaurants and staff also on sustainability

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.


Your are here

Your idea for a sustainable UberEATS-like platform falls into a crowded space, categorized as a 'Swamp.' This means there are existing solutions, but none have truly captured the market. With 4 similar products already out there, competition is present, and the lack of engagement (an average of 0 comments across these similar products) suggests that these sustainable food delivery concepts struggle to generate user excitement or traction. Since no use or buy signals were observed in the similar products, it's a neutral indicator; people are neither explicitly clamoring for nor rejecting the concept. Given this landscape, successfully launching and scaling a sustainable food delivery service will require a significantly differentiated approach to overcome the inertia of existing mediocre solutions.

Recommendations

  1. Thoroughly research existing sustainable food delivery platforms to understand their shortcomings and user pain points. Don't just focus on their features, but deeply analyze their business models, operational challenges, and marketing strategies. Consider what makes them 'mediocre' in the eyes of the consumer. Identify gaps in the market and determine if you can truly offer a superior and distinct value proposition.
  2. Instead of directly competing with UberEATS, consider partnering with existing platforms to integrate sustainability education and practices. Offer your sustainability training and consulting services to restaurants already using these platforms, helping them to adopt eco-friendly practices. This allows you to leverage existing infrastructure and focus on your unique expertise in sustainability, potentially generating revenue without needing to build a new delivery platform from scratch.
  3. Given the low engagement with similar products, heavily invest in building a strong community around your brand. This could involve creating engaging content, hosting sustainability-focused events, and fostering a sense of shared values with your target audience. Highlight the positive impact restaurants are making through your platform and actively engage with users through social media, encouraging feedback and dialogue. Focus on building authentic relationships with both restaurants and consumers to differentiate your offering.
  4. Explore adjacent problems within the food industry that might be more promising. For example, you could focus on developing sustainable packaging solutions for restaurants or creating a platform that connects restaurants with local, sustainable suppliers. By addressing a specific pain point in the sustainability ecosystem, you can create a niche for yourself and avoid direct competition with established food delivery services. These services may be eager for solutions that you can provide.
  5. Given the challenges within your idea space, it might be wise to focus your resources and passion on a different opportunity altogether. Explore other areas where your skills and interests align with market demand, and where there's a greater potential for growth and impact. Don't be afraid to pivot if your research indicates that the sustainable food delivery space is too saturated or challenging to penetrate effectively.

Questions

  1. What specific, measurable sustainability metrics will you use to track the impact of your platform on restaurants and the environment, and how will you communicate these metrics to consumers to build trust and transparency?
  2. How can you leverage technology to create a more engaging and interactive learning experience for restaurant staff regarding sustainable practices, making it more than just a training module and encouraging long-term behavioral change?
  3. Considering the 'Swamp' category designation and existing competitors, what is your 'unfair advantage' - a resource, connection, or expertise that others cannot easily replicate - that will allow you to succeed where others have struggled?

Your are here

Your idea for a sustainable UberEATS-like platform falls into a crowded space, categorized as a 'Swamp.' This means there are existing solutions, but none have truly captured the market. With 4 similar products already out there, competition is present, and the lack of engagement (an average of 0 comments across these similar products) suggests that these sustainable food delivery concepts struggle to generate user excitement or traction. Since no use or buy signals were observed in the similar products, it's a neutral indicator; people are neither explicitly clamoring for nor rejecting the concept. Given this landscape, successfully launching and scaling a sustainable food delivery service will require a significantly differentiated approach to overcome the inertia of existing mediocre solutions.

Recommendations

  1. Thoroughly research existing sustainable food delivery platforms to understand their shortcomings and user pain points. Don't just focus on their features, but deeply analyze their business models, operational challenges, and marketing strategies. Consider what makes them 'mediocre' in the eyes of the consumer. Identify gaps in the market and determine if you can truly offer a superior and distinct value proposition.
  2. Instead of directly competing with UberEATS, consider partnering with existing platforms to integrate sustainability education and practices. Offer your sustainability training and consulting services to restaurants already using these platforms, helping them to adopt eco-friendly practices. This allows you to leverage existing infrastructure and focus on your unique expertise in sustainability, potentially generating revenue without needing to build a new delivery platform from scratch.
  3. Given the low engagement with similar products, heavily invest in building a strong community around your brand. This could involve creating engaging content, hosting sustainability-focused events, and fostering a sense of shared values with your target audience. Highlight the positive impact restaurants are making through your platform and actively engage with users through social media, encouraging feedback and dialogue. Focus on building authentic relationships with both restaurants and consumers to differentiate your offering.
  4. Explore adjacent problems within the food industry that might be more promising. For example, you could focus on developing sustainable packaging solutions for restaurants or creating a platform that connects restaurants with local, sustainable suppliers. By addressing a specific pain point in the sustainability ecosystem, you can create a niche for yourself and avoid direct competition with established food delivery services. These services may be eager for solutions that you can provide.
  5. Given the challenges within your idea space, it might be wise to focus your resources and passion on a different opportunity altogether. Explore other areas where your skills and interests align with market demand, and where there's a greater potential for growth and impact. Don't be afraid to pivot if your research indicates that the sustainable food delivery space is too saturated or challenging to penetrate effectively.

Questions

  1. What specific, measurable sustainability metrics will you use to track the impact of your platform on restaurants and the environment, and how will you communicate these metrics to consumers to build trust and transparency?
  2. How can you leverage technology to create a more engaging and interactive learning experience for restaurant staff regarding sustainable practices, making it more than just a training module and encouraging long-term behavioral change?
  3. Considering the 'Swamp' category designation and existing competitors, what is your 'unfair advantage' - a resource, connection, or expertise that others cannot easily replicate - that will allow you to succeed where others have struggled?

  • Confidence: Medium
    • Number of similar products: 4
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 0
  • Net use signal: 0.0%
    • Positive use signal: 0.0%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

Relevance

Crowd-sourced sustainability search for cafes, rests., & refilleries

25 Jun 2024 Android

EcoRate is a sustainability search app that helps you find and evaluate cafes, restaurants, and refill stores based on how eco-friendly they are. What is "eco-friendly"? EcoRate focuses primarily on how much single-use waste is produced on-site in the way normal orders are fulfilled. For example, cafes that serve dine-in orders in reusable cups are rated higher than those that use single-use items. Their higher ratings also make them appear more prominently on the map. EcoRate also has filters you can apply to show which cafes use mugs, let you bring a thermos, etc. For zero waste stores you can even do an inventory search to more easily find the item you're looking for without all the superfluous packaging, though that's still in development.I recently added over 500 restaurants from the Surfrider Foundation's "Ocean Friendly Restaurants" program whose members participate in several rigorous sustainability initiatives. Earlier this month I also added the "Good To Go Cups" cupshare network to the map.The app is crowd-sourced, so you can help others find great low-waste venues by reviewing them yourself. The EcoRate website and mobile apps are free and ad free, so if sustainability matter to you, I hope you find it useful. The sustainability-ratings app space has had many entrants, and little to no successes, so feedback is immensely appreciated!


Avatar
1
1
Top