DoorDash will branch out beyond restaurant meal delivery and move into the online grocery segment. It will partner with regional grocers including Hy-Vee, Meijer, and Smart & Final. Customers can use its subscription plan DoorPass for discounted pricing and offers.
DoorDash already has partnerships with grocers such as Wegmans and Food City for prepared meal delivery. Stay-at-home consumers have driven growth in on-demand delivery services and DoorDash has the scale and delivery network to move to an adjacent vertical. While grocery delivery has its own challenges compared with delivering restaurant food, this is a move well worth making.
The following excerpt from a Reuters article reports more on the topic:
DoorDash Inc, the largest U.S. third-party delivery company for restaurants, on Thursday launched a new grocery service, entering an increasingly crowded market dominated by Instacart Inc and Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Fresh.
Grocery delivery on DoorDash’s app will begin with Meijer Inc, among others, and expand to more regional and specialty chains in coming weeks, DoorDash’s head of “new verticals” Faud Hannon told Reuters.
The more than $680 billion U.S. grocery industry has seen sales rise as the coronavirus pandemic prompted people to stay home and cook more, and to shun shopping themselves in favor of lower-contact delivery services.
DoorDash said it will deliver flour, tomatoes and olive oil in real time just as it does for lunch orders from restaurants.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group