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Uber CEO: We're Going After Groceries Next (yahoo.com)

Posted by msmash on from the further-expansion dept.

Uber is digging deeper into the business of food. From a report: Uber's restaurant delivery business "Eats" hit $6 billion in bookings earlier this year, growing over 200%, quickly becoming a crown jewel for the ride-sharing company. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said given the success in the delivery of food, the next logical step is to enter the grocery space. "We will move into grocery. That's fundamental. A lot more people will be eating at home. Right now we are busy with Eats, but you can see grocery as an adjacent business. We're thinking about Uber much more as a platform," he said at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit 2018 on Tuesday.

2 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck with that! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Good luck with that! Groceries are a low-margin business. The low margin depends on the customer traversing the "last mile" shifting the last mile problem from supplier to consumer.

    Sure some wealthy people probably will be interested, but they don't need Uber for that and that demographic would expect and demand a high degree of accountability and Uber is not in that kind of marketspace.

  2. Re:Hard No by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But there is not one Uber driver I've ever seen that I would want picking out groceries for me nor would even eat anything they hand me (you drink those free bottles of water in Uber cars? Good luck with that).

    It isn't just Uber drivers...

    I can't imagine sending anyone out to pick my food for me....

    I'd not trust them to spend he time to pick the best produce for me, nor look over the meats, and look for the best marbling in beef, etc.

    Not to mention, I usually choose my meals based on a couple things:

    1. What's on sale in weekly ads

    2. What happens to really look good.

    I usually do most of my menus based on seeing what's on sale that week, and going maybe on Friday or Sat to the various stores to get the best deals on things.

    Sometimes there's a Costco trip in there too.

    But often I get in the store and see something that either looks good, or I didn't realize was in season, etc....and quickly in my head some up with something to cook with that.

    Not sure how an Uber driver or shopping service could make me as happy cooking and eating as I do myself shopping for food.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........