In the United States, food delivery and ordering platform DoorDash has expanded its COVID-19 relief efforts, adding an e-commerce platform aimed specifically at independent restaurants.
Dubbed DoorDash Storefront, the new platform is aimed at roughly 40 percent of DoorDash restaurant partners that currently do not offer online ordering through their website. Launching in July, Storefront allows restaurants to retain valuable consumer data as orders will be made directly through a restaurant’s branded website.
“Our goal is to provide these restaurants, many of them small, independent businesses, with a solution to continue adapting through this challenging time, driving incremental sales and reaching new customers through their own channels,” said DoorDash in a statement.
DoorDash did not reveal the cost of Storefront, only stating that there’s a one-time set up fee, along with a monthly software fee and a flat delivery fee per order. But the delivery company is waiving those costs for local restaurants (five or fewer locations) through the end of 2020.
For restaurants that don’t want to manage their own e-commerce program, DoorDash is introducing DoorDash Weblinks. The plug-and-play program is designed to let DoorDash manage a restaurant’s digital ordering experience. Restaurants must have “an established digital presence” to sign up for the service.
Consumers clicking on delivery from a restaurant’s website will then be redirected to that restaurant’s page on the DoorDash marketplace. Standard commission fees apply on completed orders. DoorDash, however, is offering 0 percent commission to restaurants with five or fewer locations on all weblink orders through the end of 2020.
DoorDash is expanding its restaurant services amid chatter that Uber, the parent company of Uber Eats, might buy Grubhub. If a merger occurred, the No. 1 delivery player would lose its market share dominance in the highly competitive delivery space.
According to the latest data from ecommerce research firm Edison Trends, DoorDash has dominated the delivery space for more than a year. The company’s market share in April, based on transactions, was 45 percent, ahead of Uber Eats (28 percent) and Grubhub (17 percent).
Since the onset of the pandemic, DoorDash has directed most of its relief to small independent restaurants because they are the most at risk of going out of business. The company says it has invested $120 million in helping independent restaurants during the pandemic.
