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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.

5 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 dysmal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They'll partner with grocery stores who have employees shopping for you. The Uber drivers will get the employee picked groceries to your home. The employees shopping for customers is already a growing trend in grocery stores and so it's a natural progression for Uber to be the last mile carrier.

    All so you don't have to go out in public and associate with real PEOPLE!!!

  3. 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.........
  4. Fail by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Supermarkets are big enough to run their own delivery operations.
    It's common in New Zealand. They have people in the different sections of the supermarket picking the items for multiple orders.
    You shop online and get told then that is likely in stock. If it isn't in stock when your order gets picked, they'll substitute it. If the substitute costs more, they don't charge you more, if it costs less, they'll refund you the difference. They're very generous on their weight based pricing for produce too. It's cheaper for them to give you more than fuss around trying to hit the exact value you paid for.

    Your groceries then get delivered in a little refrigerated truck. No way in hell I'm having some random guy in their car deliver me frozen goods.

    To top it all off, this only costs $13 for delivery. $9 if it's over $200. $118 for unlimited deliveries for 6 months - works out to only $4.5 a week.
    How is Uber going to compete with that price? They'd need to provide trucks or coolers too, since they can't realistically offer delivery for anything that requires refrigeration

  5. There's more to the world than the US by shilly · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is hilarious how parochial most Slashdot posters are.

    Online grocery shopping has been a major business in the UK, the world's most competitive grocery market (competitive, not lucrative or largest), for more than a decade.

    Perhaps Uber would like to study up about Ocado (and Sainsburys.com and Tesco.com and Waitrose.com etc etc) before they jump into this market. Perhaps Slashdotters might want to learn a little bit about them as well, before confidently declaring that online grocery shopping can never be a thing.

    Ocado's story, in particular, has many lessons to teach about platform vs exclusivity, the role of automation, the importance of new brands for online (eg Natoora), the cognitive differences in shopping decisions online vs in-store (smart lists etc).

    A few articles here:
    http://www.cityam.com/264588/d...

    https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/ch...