Understanding the socio-spatial distribution of “dark retail” in England: Development of a unique retail location dataset

Abstract

Online food delivery services (OFDS) are an increasingly popular way of accessing both ready-to-consume foods and groceries. Such foods are sometimes delivered from facilities not open to the public - so called ‘dark retail’. However, there is a lack of data on ‘dark retail’, which limits understanding of their location, prevalence and growth. We identified different types of dark kitchens (i.e., “virtual brands”, “ghost kitchens”) and dark grocery stores (i.e., “large dark grocers”, “small/independent dark grocers”). Using data on 113,370 unique online food outlets from three major food delivery platforms (Uber Eats, JustEat, and Deliveroo) in England, we created a database of dark retail locations and analysed their socio-spatial distribution. Dark retail accounted for 14 % of all online food outlets, with the majority being virtual brands. Overall, dark retail is more likely to be located in more deprived areas. The extent of dark retail observed highlights the importance of incorporating them into existing regulatory frameworks. Our database and findings provide insights into the socio-spatial distribution of dark retail, which could inform future research and policy development in this area.