Managing E-commerce During a Pandemic: Lessons from GrubHub During COVID-19

Abstract

The GrubHub Inc, started as a small food ordering service in Chicago in 2004, and has developed into an e-commerce food delivery giant worth over $3 billion. Since its merger with Seamless in 2013, GrubHub has experienced 53% year-over-year growth in revenue. While online food ordering commerce has been expanding over the years, due to the COVID-19, the industry is experiencing an economic shock. Consumers have begun to isolate themselves from outside as much as possible and local shops have been started to close one by one. As a result, demand has been shrinking to services such as GrubHub, even though otherwise would be expected. In order to survive, the company has to employ new measures and devise new ways of conducting business to protect its competitiveness through catering recently changed needs of community due to the pandemic. This case study explains and demonstrates the set of steps that are taken by GrubHub and their effects on its customers, key business partners, shareholder, and stakeholders.

Citation

Yasin Ar, A. (2020), "Managing E-commerce During a Pandemic: Lessons from GrubHub During COVID-19", George, B. and Mahar, Q. (Ed.) International Case Studies in the Management of Disasters (Tourism Security-Safety and Post Conflict Destinations), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 155-167. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-186-820201010