DoorDash has announced new features for consumers, merchants, and Dashers at the inaugural Dash Forward 2023 product showcase. The company was founded ten years ago with the mission to grow and empower local economies. And what started as a restaurant delivery platform has evolved into a global marketplace for local commerce, now delivering anything consumers need on-demand from their neighborhood.
Over the company’s first decade, it facilitated 5 billion consumer orders, drove over $100 billion in sales for merchants, and helped Dashers earn over $35 billion through the platform.
The company recently announced some of the biggest updates made in a decade across the company’s three-sided marketplace as part of its inaugural Dash Forward 2023 product showcase.
For the consumer app, Doordash introduced the following features
Universal Search – A universal search bar now shows up at the top of the app, which enables you to search for anything you need from anywhere on DoorDash in your shopping journey. Now it’s easier than ever to find whatever you need with a quick search.
Browse tab – The new Browse tab helps users discover everything they can now shop for on DoorDash, all in one convenient place from more than 100,000 non-restaurant businesses on DoorDash spanning grocery, convenience, flowers, gifts, party supplies, etc.
Grocery tab – DoorDash’s Grocery tab enables users to easily shop from their favorite grocery stores, for weekly essentials like fresh produce, some snacks for a dinner party, or last-minute emergency items like cold medicine.
Retail tab – The new Retail tab looks like a virtual shopping mall that’s accessible with one tap from the homepage. And it’s the one-stop shop for everything from household and office supplies to pet toys, beauty staples, last-minute gifts, etc.
Multiple carts – With numerous categories to now shop from, you are now able to start multiple shopping carts in the app, check out whenever you’re ready, and never lose progress on an order again. And now you can add to your weekly grocery cart, start another to order today’s lunch, and another to start a separate school supplies order for your kids. It is easy to view and manage all of your open carts by simply tapping the cart icon in the top-right corner of the app.
These app updates will gradually roll out to consumers over the next few months across the US, Canada, and Australia.
SNAP/EBT online payments – Broadening food access has been a goal since DoorDash’s early days. And a key part of transforming the future of local commerce is unlocking new possibilities for everyone. The company is continuing its commitment to making grocery delivery more affordable and accessible with the launch of SNAP/EBT online payment on DoorDash for grocery delivery with multiple partners including ALDI, Albertsons, Safeway, Meijer, and participating 7-Eleven stores.
Flexibility for Dashers:
In the past decade, millions of Dashers have turned to DoorDash for the opportunity to reach their financial goals by earning supplemental income how, when, and where they choose. And Dashers have consistently told the company that flexibility and choice are overwhelmingly the key reasons they choose to dash. DoorDash’s business has evolved beyond just facilitating single orders from single restaurants and today, Dashers have more choice than ever when it comes to how they want to earn – from in-store shopping to package pickup and more.
Earn by Time – This is a new way for Dashers to earn. And from the moment they accept an offer until it’s completed, Dashers will earn a guaranteed hourly minimum rate plus 100% of tips on top.
Earn Per Offer – This is for Dashers who prefer the existing earnings mode that they’ve come to know and love, but with more variety than ever before in the types of tasks they can complete on the platform – all with a more efficient, streamlined suggested route. After a Dasher earns per offer, they’ll be shown upfront the guaranteed minimum amount they can expect to make on that offer – and as always, Dashers keep 100% of tips.
At the start of every dash where Earn by Time is available, Dashers are able to choose which earning mode they want to use and at any time, they can end their dash and start a new one in a different mode when available. And with these two earning modes, Dashers today have unprecedented choice, flexibility, and control in how they dash. Along with more earnings flexibility, the company was excited to announce additional updates to the Dasher platform, including:
Post-checkout tipping – To ensure customers can reward Dashers for great service and provide a tip when and how they choose, this new feature enables customers to add a tip for their Dasher – or increase their tip – directly in the DoorDash app up to 30 days after delivery.
Dash Along the Way – Regardless of how they choose to earn, DoorDash knows that Dashers value efficiency. With Dash Along the Way, Dashers are able to automatically receive offers that take them directly to the zone they’ve selected as their dash’s starting point, reducing downtime and helping Dashers maximize their earnings potential.
Location Sharing – DoorDash is always looking for ways to give Dashers even more peace of mind on the road, which is why they introduced in-app Location Sharing. And with this feature, Dashers can share their location with up to 5 trusted contacts. These contacts can track their loved one in real-time: they’ll see if they’re on a dash, if the dash has ended, or if 911 help has been requested.
Updates for merchants:
DoorDash was built for being a catalyst for growth and a partner to merchants of all kinds. And the company is maintaining that promise by unveiling a suite of new features that provide restaurants with more choices and more ways for them to grow online.
Personalized Growth Recommendations – Restaurants are now able to access bespoke recommendations within the Merchant Portal to encourage growth, ranging from ways to improve order accuracy, optimize menus by adding photos, or adopt new products to grow their business like Sponsored Listings or DashPass.
New Ways For Rewarding Customers – DoorDash’s new customer rewards feature empowers restaurateurs with the ability to reward customers for their repeat patronage on DoorDash, building lifelong relationships with customers. And operators can create this reward within the Solutions Center in the Merchant Portal – all with no additional marketing fees or commissions, except for the cost of the reward itself.
Driving Conversion Through Storefront Enhancements – Storefront – which is DoorDash’s commission-free online ordering software – was developed to help restaurants operate and grow their first-party online ordering channel. And to continue fueling their growth and encourage customer conversion, DoorDash is debuting enhanced customization options which enable operators to extend their branding online via personalized fonts and colors, optionality to add Smart Buttons which direct customers in one click from a restaurant’s website to their online ordering page, item-level ratings carried over from Marketplace to Storefront to highlight most popular items, and the option for customers to leverage their existing DoorDash credentials to reduce login friction.
KEY QUOTE:
“Customer feedback has been central to how we approach innovation since our founding 10 years ago, and we continue to embrace that commitment as we build products and services that meet the real-time needs of all the audiences we serve. By helping merchants digitize every part of their business to drive incremental sales, by making every store in the neighborhood more accessible to consumers, and by pioneering the future of work with new and flexible ways to earn, DoorDash is building the future of local commerce on a global scale.”
— Rajat Shroff, Head of Product & Design at DoorDash
