Deliveroo in Singapore may introduce dynamic pricing

Dynamic Pricing

1. Introduction

Deliveroo in Singapore Terms of Service states that it

10. Prices, Payment and Offers

Prices include GST. You confirm that you are using our Service for personal and non-commercial use, unless you request for a tax invoice detailing GST. Deliveroo may operate dynamic pricing some of the time, which means that prices of Items and delivery may change while you are browsing. Prices can also change at any time at the discretion of the Partner Restaurants. We reserve the right to charge a Service Fee, which may be subject to change, for the provision of our Services. You will be notified of any applicable Service Fee and taxes prior to purchase on the checkout page on our Application. No changes will affect existing confirmed orders, unless there is an obvious pricing mistake. Nor will changes to prices affect any orders in process and appearing within your basket, provided you complete the order within 2 hours of creating the basket. If you do not conclude the order before the 2 hour cut-off the items will be removed from your basket automatically and the price change will apply. If there is an obvious pricing mistake we will notify you as soon as we can and you will have the choice of confirming the order at the original price or cancelling the order without charge and with a full refund of any money already paid. Where Deliveroo or any Partner Restaurants make a delivery, we or the Partner Restaurant may also charge you a delivery fee. This will be notified to you during the order process before you complete your order.

As of now, Deliveroo does not have any dynamic pricing for menu orders. However, in the future if Deliveroo introduces dynamic pricing, any significant changes to how prices are calculated must be communicated clearly to customers.

2. Background

In September 2018, it was announced by Deliveroo’s chief operating officer, Rohan Pradhan, at the Restaurant Conference in London that Deliveroo plans to experiment with dynamic pricing. This development could mean discounts during quiet periods, but getting charged more during bad weather.

The addition to Deliveroo’s Terms of Service was done in March.

Also, earlier this year, Deliveroo replaced its flat S$3 delivery service fee with a variable fee based on factors such as distance and the time it takes to deliver.

TNP spoke to the other food delivery companies including Foodpanda Singapore, which has 6,000 restaurant partners and GrabFood, which has more than 5,000 merchants on boards its platform here. Foodpanda’s managing director, Luc Andreani said that it has no plans to introduce “surge pricing”, either for delivery or menus. GrabFood spokesman told TNP that it has no plans to introduce dynamic pricing for menu items.

3. Eugene comments in TNP

Eugene Thuraisingam said

Deliveroo’s official response suggests that dynamic pricing for menu items may be introduced in the future, and if and when it is, this should be brought clearly to its customers’ attention.

If they are saying that this change doesn’t amount to introducing dynamic pricing for their menu items, then if in future they do decide to introduce dynamic pricing for their menu items, they will have to issue a separate notice.