It has been a year since talabat, the region’s leading food delivery and q-commerce platform, launched its in-app tipping feature, enabling customers to show their appreciation towards talabat riders.
Last year, talabat introduced rider tipping on its platform to make it safer and easier for customers to appreciate their hard work. In the past, customers tipped in cash directly, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, talabat introduced the feature to enable customers to continue appreciating riders, safely.
Customers would view their previous orders and select the option to tip their riders accordingly, where tips received through this feature were fully deposited into the riders’ bank account during their respective monthly salaries. Now, the tipping feature has been upgraded so customers can also include a tip while waiting for their delivery. The feature has been rolled out this week, and all customers can start using the upgraded tipping feature in the coming days.
Since the initial launch of the tipping feature, customers tipped over 100,000 Euros for the hard work and dedication riders showed when the general public was advised to stay home. In February 2021 alone, talabat riders across the region received nearly 10,000 Euros in tips, which marks the highest number in tips this year.
Throughout the region, the UAE-based customers raised the highest tips, contributing over 36,000 Euros, followed by Qatar with over 29,000 Euros and Bahrain with over 22,000 Euros. So far, customers in Qatar generally tended to tip the highest possible amount (8 Qatari Riyals) available for selection on the app compared to UAE customers usually tipping the average in-app tipping amount of AED4. The highest tip in the region came from the UAE, with a customer tipping a rider 26 Euros (AED112) in January this year. Interestingly, customers tend to be more generous during the weekends tipping slightly more on Fridays and Saturdays compared to the rest of the week.
Khaled Alfakesh, Chief Financial Officer of talabat says, “Riders are at the heart of delivering the best possible experience, which is why it’s great that customers recognise the dedication and efforts they put into their work every day. However, we believe the upgraded tipping feature will make it easier for our customers to tip riders, knowing that they can now include their tips while they wait for their order to arrive instead of having to wait later in the process. Our heroes are truly the backbone of talabat, and we would be nowhere without their commitment and resilience, which is why we’re excited about the upgrade of the rider tipping feature.’
Consumers can download talabat through the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store.