How to buy Deliveroo (ROO) shares

• Want to buy Deliveroo shares for exposure to a company at the intersection of hospitality and tech?
• Learn about choosing an online broker where you can trade.
• Confused by the different types of trades? Learn about them all before you invest.

Before 2013, ordering a takeaway in the UK was a hit-and-miss affair. Anyone who didn´t live near a Chinese, Indian, or pizza restaurant in a city or large town had no choice but to get in their cars and pick up their own takeaway.

Deliveroo (LON: ROO) changed that. They enabled any restaurant, café, bakery, or gastropub to offer a takeaway service.

The demand was huge, and nine years later is still growing as Deliveroo continues to set up in new locations.

If you want to buy Deliveroo shares, just read on to find out exactly how to do it.

Step 1: Open a trading account

Deliveroo shares trade on the London Stock Exchange. It is necessary to have a broker with access to this exchange if you want to buy their shares. Those listed on this page can trade shares on the LSE.

Before you decide which broker to use, be sure to check what their brokerage and currency conversion fees are. Other notable features worth comparing include the ability to buy fractional shares (so you can invest in expensive shares), what markets you have access to, what you can trade apart from shares, and what the trading experience is like.

Step 2: Deposit funds in your account

Before you can purchase shares, your trading account needs to be funded. You can deposit funds with your debit card or a bank transfer. Depending on the broker, you may have other options for funding like credit cards and PayPal, etc.

Be aware that depending on the method chosen, your funds may take some time to show up in your account, particularly when you open a new account. Debit cards are typically the fastest option.

Step 3: Decide how much you want to spend

The value of stocks can fluctuate, so you should only put money into investments that you can afford to lose. Be aware that Deliveroo’s share price has been famously volatile.

Step 4: Shares or ETF?

ETFs are a type of diversified investment, which gives an investor exposure to a range of companies. Diversifying with them helps to reduce your exposure to risk.

ETFs that hold shares in Deliveroo include iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF (SCZ), Schwab International Equity ETF (SCHF), and JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF (BBEU).

Step 5: Configure an order

If you're looking to buy Deliveroo shares and you're not worried about slippage (the slight difference in price between what’s quoted and what it costs when executed), you could set up a market order. Market orders are very easy to use, requiring little to no configuration. Once executed, your order will complete at the current market price.

Most brokers let you set up an automatic buy or sell order to be executed at a certain share price. These can be used to sell when the market drops or take profit.

Step 6: Buy

Once you've got your order set up, submit it to buy.

Monitoring how your Deliveroo shares are performing is particularly important.

As well as tracking the price of Deliveroo shares, track what is happening with their main competitors, UberEATS (UBER) and Just Eat Takeaway (JET).

It is also worth tracking supermarket delivery firms, particularly Ocado (LON: OCDO). Grocery delivery apps e.g. Beelivery, Gorillas, and Grocemania may also muscle in on Deliveroo’s market. In time, these new companies are highly likely to go public or be bought by publicly listed companies.