DoorDash wants to become the world’s bartender. In yet another expansion of its offerings, the massive delivery service provider announced Monday that it is now offering on-demand delivery of wine, beer and spirits via DoorDash Marketplace. The DoorDash app’s new Alcohol tab will deliver booze to more than 100 million customers in 20 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, Canada and Australia.
For more than a year now, DoorDash’s (NYSE: DASH) white-label fulfillment service DoorDash Drive has been handling alcohol delivery for local and national brands through their own channels. Now, the company says, thousands of those brands will be able to sell their products through DoorDash Marketplace, allowing them to reach a wider customer base and giving DoorDash a horse in the race against Uber (NYSE: UBER) and its on-demand alcohol service, Drizly.
“Over the past year, many cities where we operate evolved their legislation in order to permit the delivery of alcohol to residents’ homes. Over that time, we worked tirelessly to build a trusted alcohol ordering and delivery experience for merchants, customers and Dashers,” said Caitlin Macnamara, director of alcohol strategy and operations at DoorDash. “We’re committed to providing new earning opportunities for merchants and Dashers, a safe, high-quality experience for customers and being a responsible leader in compliant alcohol delivery.”
DoorDash will offer 30,000 SKUs from thousands of retailers and restaurants, even allowing customers in select markets to bundle their restaurant orders with alcohol orders via its DoubleDash offering. It will also partner with Responsibility.org and Students Against Destructive Decisions, two organizations that promote responsible drinking, to help it comply with industry safety standards.
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The addition of alcohol to DoorDash Marketplace will help the company capitalize on a market that’s already drunk on e-commerce growth. In May, lawmakers in 14 states and the District of Columbia moved to allow restaurants to sell cocktails to go permanently after many began offering deliveries of drinks during the pandemic. According to a 2020 report from Nielsen, alcohol is the fastest growing e-commerce vertical among all consumer packaged goods, and DoorDash says that offering booze on its app can boost average order values by 30% for restaurants and grocers and by more than 50% for convenience stores.
There’s certainly some indicators that would support DoorDash’s view. According to the National Restaurant Association, well over half of customers over the age of 21 say they’d be likely to order a drink if a restaurant offered alcoholic beverages. The organization also reported that 35% of off-premise customers ages 21 or older say they’d be more likely to pick a restaurant that offers alcoholic beverages with meals.
With alcohol added to its growing list of offerings, DoorDash now has some firepower to compete with one of its main rivals, Uber. In February, the rideshare giant acquired alcohol delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion on the heels of growth in 2020 that vastly exceeded expectations. The companies are now going head-to-head in just about every vertical, from alcohol to on-demand grocery and everything in between.
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