Uber announced their partnership with delivery startup Gopuff to expand its delivery business. Gopuff, which acquired the liquor store chain BevMo last year, will make its inventory of convenience and grocery store items available to Uber as part of this new deal. The companies plan to roll out their new offerings to customers in 95 cities starting this June and nationwide later in the year.
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Gopuff specializes in delivering “essential” or “instant need” items, which it defines as “liquor, local favourites, beauty and pet products, snacks and medication. The company will handle the logistics and delivery of the items, with Uber taking a cut of the transaction through its app, essentially white-labelling Gopuff’s service.
The news follows months of Uber slowly transforming into a delivery company after suffering steep financial losses as a result of the pandemic. The company’s ride-hailing business tanked in the early days of 2020, and while it is still slowly recovering, it’s an open question as to whether it will return to its pre-pandemic heights.
Still, Uber has a long way and much work to compete with major players in the grocery delivery space, including Amazon and Instacart. Gopuff is an interesting choice for a partner. The company nearly tripled its revenue last year to $340 million as the pandemic forced more people to turn to delivery startups for essential items.
