The business of delivery by the United States based ride hailing company Uber Technologies Inc has now been expanded into a number of several Latin American and Canadian cities where the company would now be offering an app-based grocery delivery service and plans to launch the service in its home market of US later this month itself.
The latest expansion into the delivery business for Uber has been started in a partnership with a Chilean online grocery provider Cornerstore in which the ride hailing company has a majority stake.
Cornershop is a market leader in the business of online grocery services in the countries of Chile, Mexico, Peru, Canada, Brazil, and Colombia.
Uber launched the new app based grocery deliver services, which could be used by users to get groceries delivered from local stores and chains through the Uber Eats app, were launched in eleven Brazilian cities, including in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, four Chilean cities, Colombia’s Bogota and Peru’s Lima and in Canada’s Montreal and Toronto.
According to Uber Eats head of product Daniel Danker, customers will be able to receive their orders “in as little as one to two hours” after ordering them from their local groceries through Uber’s app.
Consumers in Canada can even order groceries from large chains of Walmart Inc and Metro Inc.
Uber said that one can expect a similar launch in the US later in July which would start with regional merchants in Miami and Dallas.
This expansion move by Uber into the grocery delivery market is timed strategically as the novel coronavirus pandemic and the associated travel restrictions all across the world has battered its core business of ride hailing. In April, when the pandemic was at its peak in many parts of the world, its ride hailing business was down about 80 per cent. According to analysts, it could be quite some more time before Uber can see a growth in demand for its ride hailing services as here are fresh surges in cases of coronavirus infection in the US and other place.
On the other hand, as more people are forced to remain indoors, there has been growing demand for Uber’s restaurant delivery business services – Uber Eats. There has been a more than 100 per cent growth in the businesses’ second-quarter food delivery orders.
It would also be acquiring the US food delivery rival Postmates for $2.65 billion which is expected to significantly increase the business of supplying everyday goods, including groceries, Uber announced on Monday.
The new grocery delivery services from Uber in these countries and cities will be included in Uber’s subscription services, Rider Pass and Eats Pass through which customers can get free delivery on orders over $30.
“I think this would make a lot of sense in a pre-COVID world,” Danker said in a call with reporters. “But our world has just fundamentally changed. And so this represents even more of a huge responsibility for us.”
(Source:www.theverge.com & www.reuters.com)
The latest expansion into the delivery business for Uber has been started in a partnership with a Chilean online grocery provider Cornerstore in which the ride hailing company has a majority stake.
Cornershop is a market leader in the business of online grocery services in the countries of Chile, Mexico, Peru, Canada, Brazil, and Colombia.
Uber launched the new app based grocery deliver services, which could be used by users to get groceries delivered from local stores and chains through the Uber Eats app, were launched in eleven Brazilian cities, including in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, four Chilean cities, Colombia’s Bogota and Peru’s Lima and in Canada’s Montreal and Toronto.
According to Uber Eats head of product Daniel Danker, customers will be able to receive their orders “in as little as one to two hours” after ordering them from their local groceries through Uber’s app.
Consumers in Canada can even order groceries from large chains of Walmart Inc and Metro Inc.
Uber said that one can expect a similar launch in the US later in July which would start with regional merchants in Miami and Dallas.
This expansion move by Uber into the grocery delivery market is timed strategically as the novel coronavirus pandemic and the associated travel restrictions all across the world has battered its core business of ride hailing. In April, when the pandemic was at its peak in many parts of the world, its ride hailing business was down about 80 per cent. According to analysts, it could be quite some more time before Uber can see a growth in demand for its ride hailing services as here are fresh surges in cases of coronavirus infection in the US and other place.
On the other hand, as more people are forced to remain indoors, there has been growing demand for Uber’s restaurant delivery business services – Uber Eats. There has been a more than 100 per cent growth in the businesses’ second-quarter food delivery orders.
It would also be acquiring the US food delivery rival Postmates for $2.65 billion which is expected to significantly increase the business of supplying everyday goods, including groceries, Uber announced on Monday.
The new grocery delivery services from Uber in these countries and cities will be included in Uber’s subscription services, Rider Pass and Eats Pass through which customers can get free delivery on orders over $30.
“I think this would make a lot of sense in a pre-COVID world,” Danker said in a call with reporters. “But our world has just fundamentally changed. And so this represents even more of a huge responsibility for us.”
(Source:www.theverge.com & www.reuters.com)
