Amazon Delivers the Future
DoorDash scores Wegmans, Uber goes green, Domino's China grows
You’ll have to excuse the late send of today’s update, there was just too much big news to cover: Amazon, DoorDash and Uber, oh my!
PS — Don’t forget to join us next Thursday in Culver City for our LA TechWeek Mobility & Delivery Happy Hour. Ready your best pitch deck and RSVP Now.
Today:
DoorDash Scores Wegmans + Beloved Regional Grocers
Uber Goes Green at Go-Get Zero 2024
Chart Time | Domino’s China Talks Growth
Amazon Ups the Ante for Grocery, Rx Delivery
3PD | DoorDash Adds Regional Grocers from Coast to Coast
DoorDash announced a big crop of new regional grocers are now available for delivery on its platform, starting off with Wegmans, a fan-favorite in the Northeast that boasts 109 stores. The partnership is now live in Maryland, with additional stores in Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware, and upstate New York available shortly. In a separate announcement, DoorDash shared four other local grocery brands going live as well: Kowalski’s, which is offering delivery from 11 locations in Minneapolis-St. Paul; Mar-Val, with 9 stores around Sacramento; Geissler’s, with 7 locations in New England; and Milam’s, with six stores around Miami.
The Big Picture: The Wegmans launch builds off an earlier partnership, where the two brands collaborated to deliver the market’s Meal 2GO prepared meals. While this crop of regional grocers may not have the heft of an Albertsons or Kroger, many of these brands are truly beloved, with their shoppers going out of their way to choose them over a more commoditized rival. And in some regions, these markets are the only game in town; for example, if you live in the Sierra Foothills town of Groveland, Mar-Val is the only full service grocery store for miles; now those local prospectors will have a non-Instacart way of getting those goods delivered.
SUSTAINABILITY | Uber Pushes Green Packaging, Farmers Markets
Uber made a slew of green-oriented announcements yesterday at its Go-Get Zero event in London. On the merchant delivery front, a big focus is on reducing packaging: Uber is launching a green packaging marketplace to improve access and is seeding uptake by pouring in nearly $1 million of subsidies for Parisian restaurateurs, looking to increase uptake of solutions like Notpla’s seaweed-based packaging, Releaf’s leaf-made bags, and iamplasticfree’s straws made of agricultural sugar residuals. On the consumer side, shoppers can now get delivery from local farmers markets, starting in NYC and LA.
The Big Picture: It’s looking like a big week for sustainability, considering our earlier coverage of DeliverZero’s launch on Grubhub. Uber also pushed out a number of other green features. On the consumer side, riders can now pick an all-electric car in 40+ key markets, set a “preference” for EVs based on availability, get to know the upsides of electricity through a series of EV pop-ups, check their carbon footprint with an updated emissions savings tracker, and shop for sustainable products via the curated “Climate Collection.” Drivers get new features as well, including an AI assistant that answers EV related questions, in-person EV mentors, and free charging in the UK. Select merchants will also get to tap into up to $50k in subsidies for sustainability initiatives.
CHART TIME | Domino’s China Talks Growth
DPC Dash, the Domino’s master franchisee for China, Hong Kong and Macau is celebrating a year and a half on the HK Stock Exchange. To whet investors’ appetites, it’s highlighting the success of its “4D Strategy” — Development, Delicious pizza at value, Delivery, and Digital. (Duh...)
1PD | Amazon Announces New Grocery, Pharmacy Delivery Options
Amazon continues to make in-roads into local commerce, with a host of announcements coming from today’s Delivering the Future event. In a move to simplify its myriad delivery options, the company is now letting Prime members get simultaneous same-day delivery of fresh groceries and popular Amazon.com products. The feature is now live in Phoenix, with additional options soon heading to 26 Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers worldwide. The Everything Store also has something for ailing bodies, as Amazon Pharmacy is set to expand its same-day delivery to 20 more U.S. cities next year, including Boston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and San Diego.
The Big Picture: Amazon also shared a bunch of updates to its logistics operations. Drivers will now be aided by Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR,) an AI-enhanced visioning system that will shine a green light on the appropriate package for each destination. The shopping giant is also in the process of building out a fully automated MFC in the Philly suburbs. While it doesn’t plan to turn to complete automation in all cases, another new warehouse in the works in Louisiana will have 10X the robots found in its traditional fulfillment centers.
A Few Good Links
Instacart and Roku expand ads partnership. Toast unveils custom branded apps and text marketing features. Perkins announces new FCR: Griddle & Co. McDonald’s $5 meal deals drive uptake. C-store EG America launches new resto brands. Taco Bell tests street tacos. Domino’s goes BOGO with Amazon and Twitch. UPS announces 5.9% rate hike. Save A Lot partners with Uber for automated grocery delivery. Sodexo pushes frictionless checkout as Grabango shutters. Bolt launches 10-minute food delivery service. Angry Crab Shack partners with Lunchbox. Popmenu partners with Square. Just Eat Takeaway.com and Rokt expand retail media program. Shipt shares favorite shoppers. Just Eat Takeaway.com finalizes repurchased share cancellation. Deliveroo hosts competition for sustainable packaging. Delaget’s platform manages delivery data. Baidu launches Apollo Go robotaxi service in new markets. Yelp’s Top 100 Bagel Shops in New York list is completely insane…
Got a tip, feedback, or just want to say hi? Reply back to this email.
— Brought to you by the Curbivore Crew.