Marketing Strategy
Food Delivery Advertising in Europe: Glovo vs Wolt vs Uber Eats vs Deliveroo Compared
As a small local business owner in Europe, you're likely considering food delivery advertising to reach more customers. With so many platforms to choose from, it can be overwhelming to decide which one is best for your business. You're not alone - 75% of restaurants and cafes in Europe are now using food delivery platforms to expand their customer base.
40↑
Glovo
market share in Spain
25↑
Wolt
market share in Germany
15↓
Uber Eats
market share in UK
10→
Deliveroo
market share in France
Understanding Your Options
When it comes to food delivery advertising in Europe, you have several options to consider. Each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, and understanding these can help you make an informed decision. For example, if you're a coffee shop owner in Berlin, you may want to consider advertising on Wolt, which has a strong presence in Germany. On the other hand, if you're a restaurant owner in London, Uber Eats may be a better option.
To get started with food delivery advertising, you'll need to create a profile on your chosen platform and add your menu items. You can then set up ads and track their performance using analytics tools. Google Ads management can also be used to complement your food delivery ads and reach a wider audience.
Choosing the Right Platform
So, how do you choose the right platform for your business? Here are some factors to consider:
- Commission fees: What percentage of each order will the platform take?
- Delivery areas: Does the platform deliver to your target area?
- Target audience: Which platform is most popular among your target audience?
- Advertising options: What advertising options are available on each platform?
Pro Tip
Make sure to read the terms and conditions of each platform carefully before signing up, as some may have restrictions on advertising or promotions.
Comparing the Platforms
Let's take a closer look at each of the four platforms:
- Glovo: Strong presence in Spain and Italy, with a focus on fast delivery times.
- Wolt: Popular in Germany and Eastern Europe, with a focus on high-quality food options.
- Uber Eats: Global presence, with a focus on convenience and wide selection.
- Deliveroo: Strong presence in the UK, with a focus on high-quality food options and fast delivery times.
Platform Comparison
GlovoBest
30%Wolt
25%Uber Eats
20%Deliveroo
15%Market share in Europe
Creating Effective Ads
Once you've chosen a platform, it's time to create effective ads. Here are some tips:
- Use high-quality images of your food items.
- Write clear and concise descriptions of your menu items.
- Set a competitive budget for your ads.
- Target your ads to the right audience using demographics and interests.
Real Example
For example, if you're a pet groomer with a cafe, you could target dog owners in your area with ads for your cafe, offering discounts for customers who bring their dogs in for a groom.
Measuring Success
To measure the success of your food delivery advertising campaigns, you'll need to track your analytics. This can include metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend. Analytics & reporting can help you make sense of your data and optimize your ads for better performance.
Watch Out
Don't forget to track your customer acquisition costs and ensure that they're in line with your business goals. If your costs are too high, you may need to adjust your ad targeting or budget.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best food delivery platform for my business?
The best platform for your business will depend on your target audience, menu items, and delivery areas. Consider factors such as commission fees, delivery areas, and advertising options when making your decision.
How much does food delivery advertising cost?
The cost of food delivery advertising will depend on the platform you choose and the size of your budget. On average, you can expect to pay between 10-20% of each order in commission fees.
Can I use multiple food delivery platforms at once?
Yes, you can use multiple platforms at once, but be sure to track your analytics carefully to ensure that you're not duplicating efforts or overspending.
How do I optimize my food delivery ads for better performance?
To optimize your ads, use high-quality images, clear and concise descriptions, and target your ads to the right audience. You can also use local SEO services to improve your visibility in search results and drive more traffic to your website.
What are the benefits of using food delivery advertising for my business?
The benefits of using food delivery advertising include increased visibility, more customers, and higher sales. By targeting the right audience and optimizing your ads, you can drive more traffic to your website and increase your revenue.
Can I use food delivery advertising to promote my other business services?
Yes, you can use food delivery advertising to promote your other business services, such as pet grooming or fitness classes. Just be sure to target the right audience and use clear and concise descriptions of your services.
If you're ready to get started with food delivery advertising and want to learn more about how DataLatte can help, contact us for a free audit and consultation. Our team of experts can help you create effective ads, track your analytics, and optimize your campaigns for better performance.
Maximizing Your Ad Budget: Cost-Per-Click vs. Cost-Per-Order Models
Choosing between cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-order (CPO) billing can feel like deciding between a cappuccino and a flat white—both are coffee, but the outcome is different. Most food delivery platforms offer both models, but they’re not always clearly explained. Let’s break down how each works, when to use them, and how to calculate which one saves you money.
Cost-Per-Click (CPC) means you pay every time someone taps on your restaurant’s listing or ad inside the app. This is common on Uber Eats (they call it “Sponsored Listings”) and on Glovo’s “Promoted” placements. The bid is per click, typically ranging from €0.30 to €2.00 depending on your category and location. You’re charged even if the user doesn’t order. This model works best if your menu is highly appealing and you have strong conversion rates from click to order (industry average is 10–15%). For example, a sushi restaurant in Stockholm with mouth-watering photos and a 18% conversion rate might happily pay €0.80 per click, knowing that each click yields €4.44 in revenue (using an average order of €24.66). But a burger joint with a 6% conversion rate would pay the same €0.80 per click and generate only €1.48 per click—losing money.
Cost-Per-Order (CPO) or Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) means you pay only when a customer completes an order after clicking your ad. This model is offered by Wolt (their “Boost” campaigns can be set to CPO) and sometimes by Deliveroo for certain accounts. The bid is per order, typically €3–€10 depending on the platform and market. You avoid paying for clicks that don’t convert. This is safer for businesses with lower conversion rates or unpredictable demand. But there’s a catch: platforms that offer CPO often limit how much they’ll spend on your behalf, and they may exclude certain high-cost orders (like multi-item orders) from counting. Always read the fine print.
How to decide (with real numbers): Let’s say you’re a bakery in Vienna. On Wolt, you can choose between a CPC bid of €1.20 or a CPO bid of €5.50. Your average order value is €15, your food cost is 35% (€5.25), and your margin before ad costs is €9.75. With CPC, if your click-to-order conversion is 12%, you’ll spend an average of €1.20 / 0.12 = €10 per order in ad costs, which is above your margin—bad. With CPO, you pay €5.50 per order, leaving you with €9.75 – €5.50 = €4.25 profit per order. Even better: you can test a lower CPO bid of €4.00 if Wolt allows—often the platform suggests a range. In this case, CPO is clearly better. But if your conversion rate is 25% (very high), CPC would cost you €1.20 / 0.25 = €4.80 per order, which is cheaper than the €5.50 CPO. So the choice depends on your conversion data.
Actionable step: Run a two-week A/B test on one platform: allocate €100 to CPC and €100 to CPO (if both are available). Track the total orders and total spend. Calculate the effective cost-per-order for each model. Then commit to the lower-cost option for the next month. Monitor weekly—conversion rates fluctuate with seasonality. For instance, we saw a patisserie in Lyon drop their CPO from €7.20 to €4.80 simply by switching from a default CPC bid to a manual CPO bid after analyzing three weeks of data. That saved them €240 on a €1,000 monthly ad spend, which is a 24% efficiency gain.
Platform-Specific Ad Features You Should Be Using
Each food delivery platform offers unique promotional tools beyond basic sponsored listings. Most small business owners ignore these because they’re buried in the merchant dashboard, but they can dramatically boost your visibility without increasing your ad budget. Here are the most effective features for Glovo, Wolt, Uber Eats, and Deliveroo—along with how to deploy them.
Glovo: “Prime” Subscribers and “Flash” Offers
Glovo operates a subscription service called Glovo Prime (like Amazon Prime) where members get free delivery on orders above a certain threshold. Over 40% of Glovo’s orders in Spain come from Prime members, and these users tend to order 2.5 times more frequently than non-members. Glovo allows you to create exclusive offers for Prime subscribers only—e.g., “20% off for Prime members” or “Free dessert with any main course.” This is a low-cost way to target your highest-value customers on the platform. We’ve seen cafés in Barcelona see a 15% increase in average order value when they offer a small upsell (like a pastry for €1) exclusively to Prime users.
Additionally, Glovo offers “Flash” deals—time-limited promotions (e.g., 20% off for the next 2 hours) that appear in a special section of the app. These are excellent for clearing slow periods (e.g., 2–4 p.m. on weekdays). A pizzeria in Madrid used a 30% off Flash deal from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and saw a 210% increase in orders during that window, while only spending €12 in extra commissions (since they discounted from their own margin). To set this up, log into your Glovo merchant portal, navigate to “Promotions,” and select “Flash offers.” Set a start and end time, a discount percentage (we recommend 15–25% to avoid eating into profit too much), and a limit on the number of orders (e.g., 50 max) to control costs.
Wolt: “Boost” Campaigns and “Menu Highlights”
Wolt’s Boost is a CPO-based ad system where you bid on a cost-per-order to appear higher in search results for specific categories. But there’s a lesser-known feature: Menu Highlights. You can pay a flat fee (typically €30–€60 per month) to have one of your menu items featured with a larger photo and a “Recommended” tag in the category page. For example, if you’re a falafel shop in Berlin, you can highlight your “Falafel Wrap” on the “Lunch” category page. Wolt’s data shows that menu highlights can increase impressions for that item by 80% and orders by 25–35%. This is especially useful if you have a signature dish that sets you apart. In Helsinki, a coffee shop with a signature cinnamon bun highlighted it for two months and saw that item become the top-selling product on their menu, boosting overall store revenue by 14%.
To activate, go to your Wolt merchant dashboard, find “Promotions” or “Marketing Tools,” and look for “Menu Highlight.” Choose a dish with a high profit margin (at least 50% after food cost) and a strong conversion history. The flat fee is usually worth it if you can sell at least 10 extra units per month—at an average order of €8, that’s €80 in revenue for a €40 fee.
Uber Eats: “Featured” Listings and “Surge Bidding”
Uber Eats offers two main ad types: Sponsored Listings (pay per click) and Featured Listings (pay per impression or flat fee for top placement in a category). The Featured option is similar to Wolt’s highlight but more expensive—typically €50–€100 per week—but it guarantees your restaurant appears in the top 3 results for a specific search query (e.g., “Italian food”). This is powerful if you’re in a competitive category. A pasta place in London used a Featured Listing for “pasta” and saw a 45% increase in orders over four weeks, with a cost-per-acquisition of €3.20—far lower than their organic CPO of €6.80.
Another underutilized feature is Surge Bidding—Uber Eats allows you to increase your bid during peak hours or rainy days when demand spikes. For example, you can set your bid to automatically increase by 20% between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Fridays. This ensures you stay visible when customers are most likely to order. But be careful: test with a small increment (10%) first to see if ROI holds. A Turkish kebab shop in Berlin tried a 15% surge bid on Saturdays and saw a 30% increase in orders but a 22% increase in ad spend—still positive ROI. Use Uber Eats’ “scheduling” tool in the ad dashboard to set these automated adjustments.
Deliveroo: “ShopVisibility” and “Deliveroo Plus” Incentives
Deliveroo’s platform has a unique feature called ShopVisibility—a dashboard that shows you your average position in search results for different keywords. It also provides a “visibility score” (0–100) that correlates with impressions. You can use this data to optimize your menu and ad spend. For instance, if your visibility is 45 for “burgers” but you’re paying for boosted ads, you might need to improve your rating or update your menu photos. Deliveroo also lets you create exclusive offers for Deliveroo Plus members (their subscription service, similar to Glovo Prime). Plus subscribers account for 28% of orders in the UK and have a 40% higher average order value. Offer a “Free drink with any order over €15” for Plus members only—this costs you maybe €1.50 per order but could increase average basket size by €4–€5.
Finally, Deliveroo Marketplace promotions allow you to run “flash sales” (like Glovo) for a specific time slot. For a crêperie in Paris, a 20% off flash sale from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays yielded 18 extra orders in one week, with a net profit of €2.10 per order after the discount. Set these up under “Promotions” in your merchant account, and restrict to a maximum of 50 orders to control costs.
Measuring Success: The Metrics That Matter (and How to Fix Them)
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Yet many business owners only look at total orders and total ad spend, missing the nuances that reveal whether your campaigns are truly profitable. Here are the five key metrics you should track weekly, with specific targets and adjustment actions.
1. Cost-Per-Order (CPO) – The most important number. Calculate as total ad spend ÷ number of orders attributed to ads. Your target CPO should be less than 50% of your profit per order. For a coffee shop with profit per order of €5 after food and labor, your CPO should be under €2.50. If it’s above, reduce your bid, switch to CPO model, or pause during high-bid hours.
2. Order Attribution Rate – How many of your total orders actually come from paid ads versus organic (people finding you in the app’s search without an ad). You can estimate this by running a campaign for two weeks, then pausing it for one week, and comparing the difference in daily orders. If ads account for less than 20% of orders, your organic ranking is strong; you might save money by reducing ad spend. If ads account for 60%+, your organic visibility is weak—consider improving your menu and ratings before increasing ad spend.
3. Click-Through Rate (CTR) – How often people click your ad after seeing it. Industry average is 3–8%. If your CTR is below 3%, your photo or offer needs work. A/B test two different headlines or discount offers. For example, one deli in Copenhagen changed their ad headline from “Fresh sandwiches” to “Try our new rye bread sandwich – 10% off” and saw CTR jump from 2.1% to 5.8%.
4. Conversion Rate (Click to Order) – The percentage of clicks that result in an order. Target is 10–15%. If yours is below 8%, your menu may be overpriced or your description misleading. Test a “free drink” or “free side” with any order to improve conversion. A taco shop in Madrid added “Free guacamole with every order” to their ad copy and saw conversion rise from 9% to 14% in a week.
5. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) from Delivery Platforms – Track repeat orders from customers who first ordered via an ad. Use unique promo codes or a loyalty card inside your delivery boxes (e.g., “Show this card for a free coffee next time”). If CLV from ads is less than 2x your CPO, you’re not building loyalty. Consider adding a small flyer to each delivery box with a QR code for a discount on your next direct order (via your own website). This shifts customers away from paying platform commissions.
Real example from a client: A pizza place in Amsterdam was spending €1,200 per month across Glovo and Uber Eats. Their CPO was €8.20, profit per order €6.00—so they were losing €2.20 per order. We created a tracking system using a Google Analytics-UTM link and unique promo codes. We discovered that 40% of their orders came from a single platform (Glovo) with a CPO of €5.80, while Uber Eats was €11.20. They shifted 80% of spend to Glovo, and added a “free garlic bread with orders over €20” promotion to increase basket size. After three months, CPO dropped to €5.10, average order value rose from €18 to €22, and they went from losing €2.20 to making €4.90 per order. That’s a 323% improvement in per-order profit.
I know this is a lot to take in. You’re running a busy café, salon, or studio, and the last thing you need is a marketing headache. But food delivery advertising can be a genuine growth lever—if you avoid the traps and use the right tools. At DataLatte.pro, we’ve helped dozens of small businesses across Europe turn their delivery ads from a cost centre into a profit driver. We’d love to do the same for you. No jargon, no fluff—just data-backed strategies tailored to your neighbourhood and your budget. Pour yourself a coffee and let’s chat. Book a free consultation
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Nataliia
Local marketing strategist with 10+ years at global agencies — OMD, Dentsu, GroupM, and BBDO. Now helping small businesses get the same data-driven edge. Based in Europe, working with clients in the US, UK, Australia, and beyond.
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