In 2025, delivery-focused start-ups appear to be finally benefiting from the“K-shaped economy,” where affluent urban consumers keep spending on premium services while lower-income groups remain financially strapped. This economic divergence creates a strong niche for companies that cater to wealthier users willing to pay for convenience — especially app-based food, grocery and goods delivery — even as broader economic pressures limit spending elsewhere. The uneven recovery means that consumers in higher income brackets continue to demand fast, premium delivery, underpinning sustainable revenue models for these platforms, while gig workers — incentivised by flexible income opportunities — supply the labour that keeps operations running.

The model works particularly well now because wealth concentration and consumption patterns have tilted in favour of digital convenience, enabling delivery services that once struggled on thin margins to improve unit economics. Another factor is the widening gap in labour markets: many lower-income workers lack stable, high-paying jobs but are available and willing to work in on-demand, flexible roles that delivery apps provide. As a result, firms in this space can match a paying elite customer base with a ready gig workforce, giving them a structural advantage in the current climate.

Still, this dynamic isn’t without debate. Critics caution that heavy reliance on gig labour without robust worker protections can deepen inequality and worker precarity, even as it supports a lucrative consumer segment. What the article highlights most clearly is that the post-pandemic economy has evolved into one where certain tech-enabled businesses — especially delivery-oriented platforms — can thrive by serving a bifurcated market that rewards convenience for those who can afford it while relying on flexible gig labour whose conditions are in flux.