Introduction by Croakey: The burgeoning online food delivery sector raises many red flags for the community’s health, as demonstrated by the examination below of a new partnership in Australia between the German retailer Aldi and American company, DoorDash.
Policymakers and public health professionals need to be paying attention to the growing consolidation of market power in the hands of a few global food and tech companies, say Deakin University researchers Dr Rebecca Bennett and Dr Christina Zorbas.
“As delivery platforms like DoorDash expand through partnerships with major retailers such as Aldi, they are not just delivering food, they are also actively shaping how Australians access food, and which products they are disproportionately exposed to, through marketing strategies, political engagement, and structural power within the food system,” they write below.
Rebecca Bennett and Christina Zorbas write:
Aldi and DoorDash announced a new partnership earlier this month, with DoorDash now trialling home delivery of Aldi products for the first time in Australia. Initially the service will only be available in Canberra, with plans to expand nationally.
Online grocery sales in Australia are booming, with the sector earning revenue of AU$14.6 billion in 2024. This is predicted to rise to AU$21.6 billion by 2028.
Until now, home grocery delivery has been predominantly limited to Coles and Woolworths, with Woolworths holding 45 percent share of online sales and Coles 29 percent (the remainder is made up of IGA, Amazon, and smaller retailers).
However, a 2022 market research survey of 2,500 Australians found that Aldi was the retailer that consumers most wanted to offer home delivery.
In Australia, online food delivery from various outlets is facilitated by third party drivers, employed as part of the gig economy. Supermarket orders from delivery apps involve the delivery driver entering the supermarket, and purchasing the customer’s order, rather than this being managed by supermarket staff.
So what could Aldi entering this space mean for Australians?
Unhealthy choices
Food delivery apps like DoorDash have been shown to predominantly promote and sell unhealthy foods and drinks.
Our research analysing Uber Eats and Menulog in Victoria found that only three percent of available outlets were considered healthy, with unhealthy options more concentrated in disadvantaged and regional areas.
We also found that certain groups, including men, younger adults aged 18 to 44, and parents of young children, were more likely to use these platforms.
This means that Aldi customers who shop via DoorDash may be exposed to additional marketing for unhealthy foods and drinks, simply by engaging with the app.
Our research into online grocery shopping also found that while Australian parents valued the convenience of shopping online, they also thought that it was harder to buy healthy food compared to in-store shopping.
Delivery platforms have also come under scrutiny for poor working conditions. Our research found that many drivers in Australia are paid below minimum wage and face unsafe working environments, reflecting broader concerns about labour practices in the gig economy.
Delivery apps are also subject to minimal regulation in Australia. Menus that would legally require kilojoule labelling in physical outlets often appear without this information when listed on delivery apps.
Despite these requirements, there is currently no enforcement to ensure nutrition labelling laws are upheld in online food environments, reducing transparency for consumers.
Web of commercial determinants
Delivery platforms like DoorDash are owned and operated by powerful multinational corporations. Similarly, Aldi is a German retailer operating in more than 20 countries, with over 10,000 stores worldwide.
The growing consolidation of market power in the hands of a few global food and tech companies raises concerns about corporate influence over food systems.
These companies are primarily accountable to shareholders, not to public health, and have significant control over what foods and drinks are marketed, how they are accessed, and at what price.
DoorDash entered the Australian market in 2019, three years after current market leader Uber Eats.
Although it held just 28 percent of market share in 2022, DoorDash has sought to expand through high-profile partnerships and technological innovation. For example, it partnered with Alphabet (the parent company of Google) to launch Australia’s first drone food delivery service and with Amazon to offer free DashPass memberships to Amazon Prime customers.
These partnerships have likely helped extend the platform’s reach.
A 2025 national survey reported that 70 percent of Australians had used Uber Eats in the past year, followed by 46 percent for DoorDash. Globally, DoorDash reported US$10.7 billion in revenue in 2024, cementing its position as one of the world’s most dominant delivery platforms.
As delivery platforms like DoorDash expand through partnerships with major retailers such as Aldi, they are not just delivering food, they are also actively shaping how Australians access food, and which products they are disproportionately exposed to, through marketing strategies, political engagement, and structural power within the food system.
This growing corporate influence demands greater scrutiny from policymakers, as it affects competition, food choices, and population health outcomes.
Grocery costs
With Australians experiencing cost of living pressures, including rising food prices, buying groceries at Aldi can be one way to save money. In Choice tests, Aldi has been consistently shown to be Australia’s cheapest supermarket.
However, when delivery apps restaurants and retailers typically pay a 30 percent commission to the delivery app, this may lead to higher prices than in-store. Customers can also pay additional delivery and service fees.
Although some initial price comparisons by The Guardian Australia between Aldi’s instore prices and DoorDash listings appear reasonable, it remains to be seen whether prices will stay aligned over time.
Customers may assume that they are getting Aldi’s low prices, but the total cost may be significantly higher than in-store once fees are added.
A lack of pricing transparency can be particularly problematic for those relying on online grocery delivery out of necessity, including people with limited mobility and parents of young children, who may already face barriers to affordable, healthy food.
Policy priorities
To respond to the challenges posed by the growing online food delivery sector, policymakers can consider the following actions:
- Strengthen enforcement of existing food regulations and extend them to cover online environments, including mandatory kilojoule labelling and clearer pricing standards
- New and innovative policies are needed to keep pace with technological change, and ensure that online food environments support, rather than undermine, public health.
Delivery apps should:
- Reformulate their algorithms to ensure that healthy food options are not buried beneath less healthy alternatives
- Commit to transparent pricing that is the same as in-store for large chains like supermarkets.
Researchers and public health professionals:
- Also have a role to play in monitoring developments in online food delivery, examining policy options, and advocating for stronger accountability measures.
Keep watch
Delivery apps are now a central part of Australia’s food system, and their influence will only continue to grow.
The Aldi–DoorDash partnership signals another shift in how groceries are being accessed, bringing new levels of convenience, but also raising questions around their health impacts, transparency of practices, and corporate influence.
Increasing convenience alone should not justify partnerships that risk deepening health and social inequalities.
Policymakers should pay further attention to the expansion of online food retail, designing modern policies that are fit-for-purpose and regulate commercial actors who may disproportionately promote food and drinks that can harm our health.
Author details
Dr Rebecca Bennett is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition at Deakin University. Her work explores how online food retail platforms (such as delivery apps, meal kits, and online grocery) shape health, highlighting how marketing, platform design, corporate strategies, and regulatory gaps influence population diets.
Dr Christina Zorbas is a senior research fellow at the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition at Deakin University. Her research works to equitably improve population nutrition. This includes providing insights into how governments can demonstrate better leadership by monitoring and levelling out food and drink prices so that healthy options are more affordable.
See Croakey’s archive of articles on the commercial determinants of health
