On demand delivery interview: Pete Chong, Global Head of Retail at Just Eat Takeaway.com

RTIH sits down with Pete Chong, Global Head of Retail at Just Eat Takeaway.com, to discuss the booming rapid delivery space in 2025 and beyond.

RTIH: What in your view have been the key rapid delivery takeaways from 2025?

PC: The biggest thing we learned in 2025 is that the shift to rapid delivery is here to stay. It’s now a core part of how people choose to live their lives.

We actually proved this in September when we released our whitepaper “Control, On Demand”. We dug into the insights and behaviours of 3,000 consumers, trying to understand what is really driving this new reality.

The most crucial takeaway wasn’t just about the need for speed; it was about control. People today are constantly looking for ways to get back some time and control in their busy routines, and being able to get whatever they need in under an hour gives just that. That’s something that two out of three people we talked to agreed with. 

The numbers coming from the Just Eat Takeaway.com ecosystem confirm this story, as the items people are ordering show this need for quick and essential help. Just in the last year, for instance, we sold a massive 4.2 million health and beauty products.

That’s everything from Paracetamol and Ibuprofen to urgent essentials like pregnancy and Covid tests, and we are also delivering a thousand packs of Pampers nappies on average every day. On top of that, we delivered 2.1 million pet care items, from dry dog food to cat litter and sold 13,000 gaming items.

It’s about being there for the essentials. And we even see some interesting trends showing up in the “self-care” category too, which certainly shows the breadth of what people expect from rapid delivery nowadays. 

RTIH: What have been the highlights for JET this year?

PC: A big one for us has been the scale of our retail expansion. We’re well past the point of just being a food delivery company now. This year, we added over 3,600 new retail stores to the JET ecosystem across our various markets.

This means we now offer retail items in almost 800 cities worldwide. We brought on major retail partners in health and beauty, like Superdrug, The Body Shop, Shoppers Drug Mart and Phoenix Pharmacy Group.

Plus, we’ve broadened our range, from Interflora flowers all the way to DIY goods from Gamma. Our goal is to empower everyday convenience, and we succeed by helping our users find whatever it is they are looking for, saving them time for what actually matters in their day. 

We’ve also delivered some highly innovative activations, such as our partnership with MediaMarkt in Berlin, where Lieferando customers were given the chance to be the very first to receive the new Nintendo Switch 2 during our midnight launch. Activations like this really demonstrate just how important speed and immediacy are to our users.  

The progress we’ve been making with autonomous delivery is also very impressive. We’re constantly exploring new and innovative ways to expand access to our services for all users, regardless of where they live or what time of day they choose to order. We’ve successfully piloted ground AI robot delivery in Switzerland, and we even marked a major milestone very recently by delivering our first pet care order by drone with Maxizoo in Ireland. 

Finally, I’m also very excited that JET is now a part of the Prosus ecosystem. Their expertise is impressive, not just because they are leaders in everything AI, which is key for our future, but because they have solid experience in growing on demand retail shopping in markets like Brazil, where iFood leads a strong pharmacy and baby care offering. That kind of knowledge transfer is incredibly valuable for us. 

RTIH: How is JET supporting partners to meet expectations during the Black Friday period?

PC: Essentially, JET supports with delivery of Black Friday deals in under an hour. Historically, Black Friday season puts a lot of pressure on stores and retail warehouses. Our logistics model naturally supports partners during these peak trading days by helping them bypass the long delivery times of the more traditional postal and delivery services.

We play a crucial role in amplifying their Black Friday offering.It’s not just about helping them get products to customers’ doorsteps  in under an hour; we also enable retailers to instantly expand their reach and connect with millions of customers who are actively looking to buy. The fact that key retailers like Boots, Fressnapf, Superdrug and MediaMarkt choose to promote their Black Friday deals in our app confirms how essential on-demand delivery services are during this busy period. 

We offered some incredible deals across many categories, with Tom Ford Black Orchid fragrance, Revolution cosmetics and PlayStation controllers being some of our top selling items. In our electronics category, we saw an unprecedented number of orders during November, with Pokemon related products and Fujifilm Instax Mini Film packs also in high demand.

Black Friday deals also drove bigger baskets for some of our major pet care retailers across Europe. 

RTIH: What do you say to those retailers who are holding back when it comes to on-demand delivery and shoppers' desire for instant gratification?

PC: Shoppers’ desire for instant gratification is no longer a trend; it is a reality that will stay. When I share the insights from our whitepaper research, coupled with the daily consumer demand we see across the platform, most retailers aren’t surprised. They fundamentally understand the need to meet customer expectations with options of speed and convenience. 

That’s where we come in. They need to understand that our proposition is purely complementary and is designed to bring them incremental orders. We are a powerful marketing tool: our partners get instant access to our loyal customer base of 60 million users, amplifying the brand’s reach almost instantly. 

Our logistics capability is also very powerful. Retailers can fully leverage our extensive and diversified delivery network to get their products to more customers, in more areas, and at different times of the day. Take, for instance, our white label delivery service, JET Go.

We have developed it specifically for brands looking to deliver items on the same day through their own website. This way, our partner controls the customer journey, and we take care of the last mile delivery. For the majority of retailers, the quickest option for delivery is next day or later, so this has proven to be a key point of differentiation. 

RTIH: How do you respond to the criticism that rapid delivery is not only unethical (labour practices, sustainability issues etc) but also unprofitable?

PC: Our success rests on delivering the best possible experience and value for our entire network, and our couriers are a crucial part of that. Treating them fairly is a key aspect of our operations, and we are committed to providing them with a welcoming, safe, and flexible environment where they feel genuinely valued. And of course, as a global company, Just Eat Takeaway.com complies with all national labour laws in all countries we operate in. 

We are equally focused on sustainability. For us, a sustainable business means supporting our partners, because their success is fundamentally our success. We know we have a responsibility to reduce the industry's impact on people and the planet, which is why we’ve taken active steps to drive more environmentally friendly behaviour across the sector.

This includes vital work like testing sustainable packaging alternatives and trialling carbon labelling, all aimed at creating a more responsible ecosystem for everyone.

RTIH: What will be the key rapid delivery opportunities and developments next year?

PC: I see the focus for next year in two main pillars: increasing choice and value for our customers and leveraging AI to benefit our partners.

From a customer perspective, they will see a lot more choice. We’re talking about new categories, more well known brands joining our platform, and a big increase in the number of products available to be delivered in under 60 minutes. In addition, we will continue rolling out our loyalty program (JET+), offering members added benefits.

We are also very excited about the improvements coming to our tech products and the overall experience for our users. AI led personalisation is planned to be a real game-changer for recommendations and offers. This will fundamentally change how quickly and effectively people can find what they need when they need it. That increased accuracy will, in turn, help our partners reach the customers who are actively looking for what they offer. 

Finally, for retailers, our retail media proposition will keep growing. This is undoubtedly a big opportunity for the business. We are creating better ways for brands to advertise in our JET ecosystem, allowing them to reach a new and engaged audience. We know that building a truly great omnichannel experience is important to brands; so we can help add further touchpoints along the customer journey.