Mobile Marketing for Food Delivery: SME Playbook

Food delivery in Southeast Asia isn’t “cool new tech” anymore—it’s infrastructure. And the marketing playbook has changed because the market has.

In the first half of 2025, global food & dining app installs fell 41%, yet APAC installs grew 30% YoY, with average session duration rising from 12.13 to 13.76 minutes (Sensor Tower, 2025). In Southeast Asia, food delivery spend reached US$19.3B in 2024, up 13% YoY, led by Vietnam and Indonesia (Momentum Works, 2024). That’s the headline.

The sub-headline matters more for Singapore SMEs: growth is shifting from discounts to retention, and mobile marketing is the engine. If you’re a restaurant group, cloud kitchen, beverage brand, grocery concept, or even a B2B supplier selling into these ecosystems, the lesson is the same: you’ll win by building repeat usage, not just “first order” spikes.

This post is part of our Singapore Startup Marketing series—practical ways Singapore teams market regionally—and it reframes the regional trend as a doable, step-by-step mobile strategy for SMEs.

Why discounts are losing power (and what replaces them)

Discounts still work, but they’re no longer a strategy—they’re a tax.

Here’s what I see across SEA performance accounts: once a market is crowded, constant promo pressure trains customers to wait for the next voucher. Your CAC rises, your margins shrink, and your “growth” becomes rented. Platforms are reacting by pushing brands toward personalised engagement and loyalty mechanics.

The replacement isn’t complicated:

• Relevance beats reach. You don’t need to talk to everyone; you need to talk to the right people at the right time.
• Retention beats acquisition. A smaller base that repeats is more profitable than a bigger base that churns.
• Frictionless journeys beat clever creative. The best ad is wasted if the click lands on the wrong screen.

For Singapore SMEs, this matters because you’re typically competing against brands with deeper discount budgets. You need a playbook that wins on experience and repeat behaviour, not subsidy size.

The mobile-first funnel that actually fits SMEs

Most SMEs try to copy enterprise funnels and end up doing everything halfway. The reality? A mobile-first funnel can be simple and still outperform.

Think of it as four measurable stages:

1. Discovery (ads, influencers, listings, partnerships)
2. Activation (first order / first booking / first cart)
3. Repeat (second and third orders—your profit zone)
4. Loyalty (habit + preference, not just points)

Your mobile marketing job is to remove friction at each stage and to measure what causes repeat behaviour.

Stage 1–2: Acquire fewer users, but acquire the right ones

If your campaigns optimise for cheap installs or cheap clicks, you’ll get exactly that—users who are cheap because they don’t buy.

Better SME approach:

• Optimise for first purchase or first order value, not app installs
• Separate campaigns by intent: “lunch near CBD” vs “family dinner” vs “late-night cravings”
• Localise offers by behaviour, not demographics (e.g., “weekday lunch regulars”)

A practical Singapore example: if you run a bowl concept near office clusters, your most valuable segment might be customers who order Mon–Thu 11:00–13:30. Don’t waste budget fighting for weekend “promo hunters.”

Stage 2–3: Make the second order the real KPI

The second order is where many food businesses either become a habit—or become a one-time experiment.

Set a hard goal like:

• 25–35% of first-time customers place a second order within 14 days

Then build mobile triggers around it:

• Day 2: “Your usual lunch time is coming—reorder in 2 taps”
• Day 5: “Add-on suggestion based on last cart”
• Day 10: “Free delivery window (not a blanket discount)”

This is where personalisation matters. SEA consumers respond strongly to culturally and contextually relevant nudges—timing, language, food occasions, payday cycles, and routines.

Measurement: the hidden advantage big players have (and SMEs can copy)

Large platforms invest heavily in mobile measurement and analytics because SEA journeys are fragmented—people bounce between apps, channels, and devices. The source article points out a key truth: knowing where high-quality users come from is the difference between scaling profitably and burning budget.

SME translation: you don’t need an enterprise stack, but you do need clean attribution and retention visibility.

If you’re running app campaigns (or even WhatsApp-to-site flows), track:

• Cost per first order (CPF0)
• Repeat rate (14/30/60 days)
• AOV by channel (ads vs organic vs partners)
• Refund/issue rate by channel (quality matters)

A channel that looks “expensive” on first order can be the most profitable once you factor in repeat behaviour.

What “good” looks like in a Singapore SME dashboard

Keep it simple. Weekly, you should be able to answer:

1. Which channel drove the highest 2nd order rate?
2. Which campaign produced the highest 30-day gross profit per customer?
3. Where are customers dropping off—ad click, menu view, checkout, payment?

If you can’t answer these, you’ll default back to discounting because you don’t know what else is working.

Deep linking: the unsexy conversion boost most SMEs ignore

Deep linking sounds technical, but the business point is simple: send people to the exact screen they expect.

The source article highlights deep linking as a major friction reducer. In food delivery, friction kills conversion because the user is usually hungry and impatient.

Examples of “good” deep links:

• Ad for “Chicken Rice Set” → opens the item page with modifiers pre-loaded
• Push notification “Reorder last meal” → opens the reorder cart
• Promo for “Free delivery 12–2pm” → opens checkout with delivery window applied

Examples of “bad” links (and common SME mistakes):

• Ad → homepage → user has to search again → drop-off
• Notification → category page → item not visible → drop-off

If you’re selling through a marketplace (GrabFood / foodpanda / Deliveroo-style flows) and can’t control deep links fully, you can still apply the principle: reduce taps. Use pre-built bundles, pinned best-sellers, clean menus, and consistent naming across creatives and listings.

Loyalty in 2026: stop thinking “points”, start thinking “preference”

Points are easy to copy. Preference isn’t.

In Southeast Asia’s next growth phase, loyalty comes from thoughtful engagement—the feeling that the app or brand “gets me.” For SMEs, that’s actually an advantage: you’re closer to your customers, you can iterate faster, and you can build community around food.

Loyalty mechanics that work without destroying margins

Try these before another 30% off campaign:

• Stamped rewards tied to profitable behaviour (e.g., 5 lunches, get a premium add-on)
• Time-boxed perks (free delivery windows, priority prep during peak lunch)
• Personalised bundles based on prior cart (not generic “combo deals”)
• Member-only drops (limited items, seasonal flavours, CNY specials)

January is a great time to implement this because many Singapore teams are doing Q1 planning right now. If you set retention goals early, you won’t be forced into “promo panic” later.

A 30-day mobile marketing plan for Singapore food SMEs

If you want a concrete starting point, here’s a realistic 30-day sprint.

Week 1: Fix the basics (you can’t optimise chaos)

• Audit your top 10 traffic sources (ads, organic, partners)
• Standardise naming: best-sellers, bundles, hero images
• Define 3 KPIs: CPF0, 14-day repeat rate, AOV

Week 2: Build retention triggers

• Create 3 automated messages: Day 2, Day 7, Day 12
• Create 2 reorder-focused offers (perks > discounts)
• Segment by behaviour: lunch regulars vs weekend families vs late-night

Week 3: Improve conversion paths

• Implement deep linking where possible
• Reduce steps in menu-to-checkout (bundle, simplify modifiers)
• Run an A/B test on one landing flow (homepage vs item page)

Week 4: Scale what produces repeat

• Shift budget toward the channel with best repeat rate
• Pause campaigns that drive high complaints/refunds
• Turn your best-performing bundle into a loyalty perk

This is how you move from “marketing that gets orders” to “marketing that builds habit.”

People also ask: Do SMEs need an app to benefit from mobile marketing?

No. An app helps, but it’s not required.

Mobile marketing really means mobile-first customer journeys:

• Click-to-WhatsApp ordering
• Mobile-optimised menus and checkout
• Location-based targeting (neighbourhood radius)
• Retargeting people who viewed menus but didn’t order

If you do have an app, you get more control: push notifications, in-app loyalty, deeper personalisation, and clearer retention measurement.

Where this fits in Singapore Startup Marketing (and what to do next)

This trend—APAC food delivery growing while the rest of the world cools—signals something important for Singapore startups and SMEs expanding regionally: SEA still rewards teams that operationalise mobile retention.

If you take one stance from this post, take this: discounts are a tactic; retention is the strategy. The brands that win in 2026 will treat mobile marketing as a system—measurement, deep links, segmentation, and loyalty loops—not a collection of one-off campaigns.

What part of your funnel is leaking most right now: first order conversion, second order repeat, or reactivation after churn? That answer should decide your next mobile marketing sprint.