What is the digital shelf?
The digital shelf is every place a shopper can see and choose a product online: delivery app menus, quick commerce and grocery assortments, in-app search results, product pages and meal deals; Dashmote tracked 15M+ delivery storefronts. It is the online counterpart of the physical shelf, the back bar and the cooler, and it shows where you can win, outlet by outlet.
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What the digital shelf covers
The term comes from online retail, where it usually means product pages on retailer websites: the title, images, description, ratings and price a shopper sees before adding to basket. In food delivery the shelf is different. It is the menu of each restaurant storefront and the assortment of each grocery or convenience store on an app, and the outlet, not a central buyer, often decides what goes on it.
Usage varies, so define the scope before you report on it: which apps, which outlet types, which categories.
How to measure it
There is no single digital shelf number. Teams track a small set of components, each with its own metric.
| Component | Question | Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Presence | Is the product listed? | Numeric distribution |
| Share | How much of the category is mine? | Digital shelf share |
| Content | Right name, official image? | Share of listings with correct name and image |
| Combos | Is it part of the meal? | Combo attach rate |
| Availability | Can it be ordered now? | Out-of-stock rate |
| Price | What does it cost here? | Menu price index |
Many teams roll the components into one execution score per storefront. The checks and how they are combined are a choice; keep them fixed so the score compares month to month.
Worked example
Take a soft drink brand on five storefronts in one city, scored on five yes or no checks.
| Check | Storefronts passing |
|---|---|
| Listed | 5 of 5 |
| Official image | 3 of 5 |
| Correct name | 4 of 5 |
| In a combo | 2 of 5 |
| Available at the check | 5 of 5 |
Execution score = checks passed / checks run, here 76%. The brand is listed everywhere; the work is in images and combos, and both are menu edits the outlet can make in minutes.
Digital shelf and digital shelf share
The digital shelf is the place; digital shelf share is one measurement of it, your listings as a share of all category listings. A brand can hold a strong share on a shelf where half its listings have no image, so share alone never describes the shelf.
How Dashmote data helps
Dashmote reads full delivery menus per storefront and app, so each component above is measured on the same storefronts and dates. Brand teams see presence, content, combos, price and availability together, plus the fix list per outlet. See delivery listing compliance and food delivery insights. The physical shelf of the same outlets is in on-premise brand tracking.
Frequently asked questions
What is digital shelf analytics?
Digital shelf analytics is the regular measurement of how a product appears online: whether it is listed, how it is shown, what it costs and whether it can be ordered. On delivery apps it is done storefront by storefront.
Who controls the digital shelf on food delivery apps?
Mostly the outlet. Each restaurant edits its own menu, so a brand wins the delivery shelf outlet by outlet, while on quick commerce apps the platform's buying team decides centrally.
Is the digital shelf the same as ecommerce?
No. Ecommerce is the whole business of selling online; the digital shelf is the part the shopper sees when choosing a product.
What is a digital shelf score?
A digital shelf score rolls several checks, such as listing, image, name, combo and availability, into one number per storefront. It is useful for trends if the checks stay fixed.