App review: Glovo makes promises but may not be delivering

Glovo is a delivery app that promises to bring all your material needs to your doorstep. The Glovo marketplace, more famous for its food delivery, has six categories where users of the app can order whatever they need from restaurants, pharmacies, supermarkets, drinks and special delivery packages. 

Glovo takes orders by connecting users to merchants, and couriers pick them up and deliver them to the user’s doorstep.

According to the website, ‘the Glovo app is available in Morocco, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, bringing its services to more than 40 cities, more than 300,000 users, 8,000 restaurants and 12,000 couriers.’

It was founded in 2015 by Spaniards, Oscar Pierre and Sacha Michaud, and has been downloaded 50,000,000 times on Android and iOS devices.

What Glovo app promises

Order anything you want.

★ Order from any restaurant in your city.

★ Discover local stores.

★ Order any product you wish.

★ Track and follow the delivery in real-time.

★ Receive your delivery in minutes.

★ Rate your experience.

★ Reorder your favourite items with 1 click.

Signup and navigation on the Glovo app

After you have successfully installed it, proceed to register as a user by providing your name and phone number and granting location permission to the app – this helps the app locate the closest Glovo merchant store to you when you make an order; making delivery faster. 

After the signup and registration process, a code is sent to the mobile number you registered with for confirmation. You are prompted to provide the four number codes for confirmation before proceeding. When that is done, you will receive a welcome notification on the app screen, and you can either choose to order at that time or at a later time.

After you have registered, making an order is relatively easy, depending on the item you would like to order. If you would like to order food, click on it in the options menu displayed on the screen. You will find food, supermarket, and package delivery options.

Glovo has a size specification for the things it can deliver, so the item has to be small enough to fit on a delivery motorcycle. So, you may not want to order car tyres.

If you want groceries, click on the supermarket icon, and a list of the items that can be purchased through the merchant store will be displayed. The estimated delivery time and delivery amount are displayed at the top of the page. 

Using the app to order food

For this review, we ordered a food item from a close-by restaurant. 

After you select food from the options, you are provided with a list of types of restaurants to choose from, with options like local food, pastries, pasta, and so on.

When you select the kind of food you would like, you are provided with options of restaurants that have that food item on the menu, and you can choose whichever you prefer.

After making your choice, a picture of the item and the price is displayed if you like what you see and the price is within your budget, you click on add for …displayed on the bottom of the page. 

Next, you proceed to the checkout page where the item purchase, quantity and price are displayed. An allergies page is also displayed.

After that comes the ‘need cutlery’ option, followed by delivery details, and the estimated time of delivery option which gives the user the option to determine how soon the order is delivered, but as soon as possible seems to be the standard option. 

After choosing all the above, you are expected to add a phone number you can be contacted on and choose a payment method, with cash or card options available for the order. A summary of your order is displayed with the delivery amount included; if the price is acceptable, proceed to confirm your order. 

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Your order will be confirmed and you will be given an estimated time of arrival with a notification. Now the wait begins…

When we made the order at about 1:45 pm, we were given an estimated delivery time of 2:10-2:20, which means that the delivery would take 25-35 minutes. But, at 2:29 pm, the order was not yet en route and the delivery time was changed from 2:30-2:40 pm, almost one hour after we ordered a piece of chicken from a close-by restaurant. 

The delivery call by the courier came in at about 2:33 pm, and the item was received before 2:40 pm. 

What users are saying about glovo app

Sophia Utulu

In the app for Nigeria, It makes no sense that for every extra portion bought on the app, I have to pay for an extra pack. Let’s disregard the extra plastic you are offering which is not good for the environment then of course the vendors understand that an extra portion doesn’t equate to an extra pack, I then end up being forced to pay for a pack and then not get it. Absurd! If this is not fixed, it’s likely to be a deal-breaker for users.

Uchenna Nwosu

I ordered for two items. One was delivered and the store called to tell me the second item was not available. I immediately reported to the app but no action was taken. They’ve designed the app in such a way as to avoid refunds.

Toyin Olasunkanmi Ganiyu

Best experience ever. Glovo is top-notch. I’ve referred a lot of friends and they are all enjoying and referring as well. The food and service is so excellent and satisfying.

Johnson Ubaezuonu

Fantastic app but for one bug. I’m unable to set up payment methods with my debit cards. I always get an error message: “Invalid or unsupported card”. I’ve tried valid Visa and MasterCard cards.

What we think of glovo app

Glovo app is a beautifully designed app, easy to use. Also, the app does a great job at communicating with the user and keeping them informed of every development until their order gets to them, which keeps the user in the loop.

The allergies question is a very thoughtful option and suggests they care about giving the best to their users. 

But there are concerns, mainly because the app has received more bad reviews.

Glovo can do better in the timeliness department. It took about one hour to get one piece of chicken delivered from a close restaurant. That is not good enough and defeats the gospel of ‘quick delivery to your doorstep’.

The delivery agents

The delivery agents use their bikes and have to book slots – one hour per slot – ahead of time or will not be allowed to make deliveries.

Speaking with a delivery agent, who was using the delivery bike of another company, there seems to be a payment system for slots that ended without deliveries.

“Dem dey give us 800 naira before when we no make any delivery for slot wey we book. But, dem don stop am,” the delivery agent said.

He said the 800 naira payment encouraged them to book more slots – a maximum of nine per day – but was stopped just before the fasting period, and they were not told why. He said he might like that system to be re-considered.

He added that he cannot work only with Glovo as they do not get as many deliveries as can help them go home smiling.

However, from our experience, Glovo may just be good for food orders, except your hunger has reached a near-death level and this may just be the merchants, not Glovo.