Boston Globe
If you have kids, there’s a good chance that you rely a lot more on gig delivery and ride-hailing services than most people, according to a new report.
Families with children are more likely to use a range of gig services more often than people without kids, making them “power users,” a report from TransUnion this month found.
Sixty-one percent of respondents with kids said they order food for delivery from a service like DoorDash “once or multiple times a week,” according to a survey of 1,051 adults that TransUnion conducted in February. About 40% of respondents without children said the same.
Households with children also spent more than those without kids. About 5% of childless users spent more than $500 a month on gig services. For people with kids, 23% spent at least that much.
Families represent exactly the kinds of users that many gig apps want: People who use the apps frequently and spend a lot on them. While apps like Uber focused on getting customers to start using their services last decade, many now want to become part of users’ daily routines, providing rides to work and delivering grocery hauls.
“It’s not only usage in terms of frequency, but usage in terms of just sheer amount of money that’s spent as well,” Mark Rose, senior director, market strategy for TransUnion’s retail business, told Business Insider in an interview.
Some delivery and ride-hailing apps have added features specifically for families. In 2023, for instance, Uber started offering accounts specifically for teens to order food for delivery or call a ride — with parental oversight of their spending and confirmation that they made it to their destination.
Gig apps could do even more to cater to families, TransUnion’s Rose said.
For example, TransUnion’s survey found that promotions — think limited-time discounts or coupons — were one of the top factors that users with kids considered when deciding which app to use.
That means gig apps could offer more promotions specifically for families, especially given their growing businesses in advertising and helping restaurants and brands market to specific types of customers, Rose said.
“Could I help a restaurant target certain promotions based on family meal deals or other sorts of options that would appeal to a family?” Rose said. “I think there’s more to be done there.”
Spokespeople for Uber and DoorDash did not respond to requests for comment from BI.
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