DoorDash Hits Record Q2, Uber Eats Scores SF Giants' Ballpark
ULEZ pushes fleets to go green, Amazon's growth slows
Whoof — is earnings season over yet? We’ve got a huge quarterly update from DoorDash, and Amazon is a few hours away from dropping its own. But don’t let that distract you from the real competition — stadium ordering! Meanwhile, London’s ULEZ is pushing companies to right-size their vehicle fleets. And heads up: this newsletter will be taking an extended weekend holiday, see you Tuesday.
Today:
DoorDash’s Record-Setting Q2
Uber Eats Scores SF Giants’ In-Seat Ordering
Chart Time | Amazon’s Growth Slows
London’s ULEZ Showing Promise for Green Fleets
3PD | DoorDash Hits Order & Revenue Record
DoorDash released its Q2 results, and America’s largest 3PD is looking good. Total orders are up 25% year over year to 532 million, while marketplace gross order value jumped 26% YoY to $16.5 billion. The company’s net loss narrowed to $172M and its adjusted EBITDA increased to $279M on revenue of $2.1 billion.
The Big Picture: DD seems to be firing on all cylinders, as it also reported record DashPass subscriptions, which topped 15 million users at the end of 2022, and growth in its international segments, led by its Wolt subsidiary, which has a strong presence in Northern Europe and Japan. Looking at the competition, DD’s gross order value is almost a billion higher than Uber Eats’, but its actual revenue is in turn about a billion lower, showing how its competitor’s combination of mobility and delivery helps with margins. Company shares rallied almost $5 as performance beat expectations, although prices have settled a bit this morning, sitting around $87.
3PD | Take Eats Out to the Ball Game!🎵
Uber Eats is adding another iconic stadium to its in-seat delivery system, as it signed up its hometown San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park. This comes after the company scored a similar partnership with Yankee Stadium in March.
The Big Picture: Stadium ordering has emerged as a competitive area for the 3PD players; DoorDash slid into a deal with the Golden State Warriors / Chase Center last October; that stadium is not only about 3,500 feet away from Oracle Park, it’s across the street from Uber’s HQ (DoorDash offices are a distant half-mile away, closer to the baseball stadium.) Most of the in-stadium services focus on letting customers order ahead for pickup; Uber offers that service at Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium, Capital One Arena, Minute Maid Park, PayPal Park and France’s Roazhon Park. Although as MLB looks to speed up baseball games, in-seat delivery could prove more and more necessary than mere order-ahead. Meanwhile, DoorDash also serves Toyota Arena, a minor league basketball stadium in SoCal; Industry small-fry ASAP has some impressive stadia on its roster as well: the NY Jets / Giants’ arena, New Orleans’ Superdome, and the NHL rink for the Florida Panthers. And even a number of the grocery players have setup quick check-out mini-markets in a handful of venues. Still, only time will tell if these deals are simply a way to score nice box seats for the execs, or an actual customer acquisition home run.
ECOMMERCE | Amazon’s Eh-xpectations
Amazon is set to release its quarterly earnings report after the market closes, and analysts are collectively saying “meh.” The consensus is that revenue will grow only 8.5% at the delivery giant, as AWS sales continue to slow with major customers showing budgetary discipline. Maybe Bezos and Jassy need to finally figure out grocery delivery to restore some serious growth?
POLICY | New Vehicles Show Promise of London’s ULEZ
Britons grumbled (and got as litigious as crass Americans) when Transport for London announced the expansion of the ultra low emissions zone (ULEZ,) set for late August. The new rules cover the totality of greater London, 607 square miles in all; cars that don’t meet the higher emissions standards will be charged £12.50 ($15.88) for entering, more if they pass through the central congestion charge zone.
The Big Picture: The emission standards are actually pretty lenient for most passenger vehicles: motorcycles and mopeds only need to comply to 2000’s “Euro 3” standards (so much for Brexit…) Gas powered cars and vans must comply with 2005 Euro 4 regulations; 90% of passenger vehicles are estimated to be unaffected. The real impact is on delivery vehicles, many of which previously relied on diesel; those with the latter fuel type are now held to 2014’s stringent Euro 6 standards. The new regulations are already pushing businesses to improve their vehicles, and not simply by buying a clean-diesel or electrified version of the same old van. H. Firkin & Sons, which has offered on-demand chimney sweeping for a whopping 163 years, has switched to using EAV electric pedal-vans, a brand also popular with the likes of Amazon, Ocado, Zoomo, DPD and Asda. With congestion pricing heading to Manhattan, will we soon see these vehicles doing the rounds stateside?
A Few Good Links
How to safely store ebikes & li-ion batteries indoors. Toast intros new catering / events platform for restos. Brinker Int’l (Chili’s, Maggiano’s, It’s Just Wings) sets Q2 release for 8/16. Cars.com quarterly rev hits $168.2M. USPS releases piñata stamps. Payments / POS provider Shift4 cuts 150 heads. Laid-off truckers launch class-action against Yellow. Workers allege wage theft at DD. DD & Jessica Biel launch kid-friendly bento boxes.
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