DoorDash Diversifies, Beauty Products now in the kitty: A Glance at its COVID-19 Journey

Summary

• Amidst the economic slowdown, companies have been compelled to look for different business opportunities and diversify to stay afloat.
• DoorDash, an American on-demand food delivery service provider, grabbed an opportunity by partnering with Australia’s Hairhouse.
• The partnership allows the Company to venture into areas outside the food delivery space. The hair care products will be delivered as part of DoorDash Drive service.
• The Company also initiated “Local Restaurant Saturdays” that extended $0 delivery fees to customers on all purchases to regional restaurants.
• Introduced DoorDash Storefront, where restaurants can build their online stores by clicking a button.

A famous line from Albert Einstein states that “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” and a strong example which vindicates the statement is DoorDash Inc. DoorDash, a provider of on-demand food delivery, has now diversified into the hair and beauty products space.

During the time when most of the restaurant businesses could not operate because of the COVID-19 restrictions in the region, DoorDash helped its partners to improve their sales. Further, the Company is taking initiatives to support its restaurant partners to sail through the current period.

In this article, we would throw some light on DoorDash’s recent partnership with Hairhouse and look at its journey through the COVID-19 pandemic.

About DoorDash

Headquartered in San Francisco, the US, DoorDash is a technology company that is one of the largest food delivery services in the country. Founded in 2013, DoorDash makes this possible by encouraging local businesses and in turn, generate new ideas where people can earn, work and live.

DoorDash links clients with their preferred regional as well as national businesses in over 4k cities throughout the US (all 50 states) and Canada.

Its specialities include local logistics, restaurant delivery, on-demand delivery, and e-commerce.

DoorDash in Australia and its Recent Partnership with Hairhouse:

In Australia, DoorDash delivers food, and now, has taken a step forward to provide on-demand delivery of hair and beauty products after partnering with Hairhouse.

Hairhouse is a one-stop-shop that provides things like hair, makeup, skin, and many more.

Hairhouse is the first non-food retailer in Australia that entered into a partnership with DoorDash so that it can ensure that the customers get access to thousands of hair and beauty products if they are not able to reach one of their Hairhouse stores.

With this partnership, the customers would be able to place an order online at Hairhouse’s website and choose DoorDash Express Store-To-Door delivery at the checkout and get their products delivered within two hours. Once Hairhouse receives a request, the store takes the responsibility of packing the order which is picked up by the DoorDash delivery executive and is delivered at the doorstep.

DoorDash during COVID-19:

At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak on the country when most of the dining outlets were closing, DoorDash rolled out a series of relief and support initiatives to support its restaurant partners and the industry. It lowered its fee by 50 per cent for all its regional restaurant partners on DoorDash as well as Caviar. This relaxation in the commission provided support to over 150k local restaurants in the US, Canada, and Australia. The COVID-19 response program continued till May 2020 end, which supported restaurants generate business and remain open for operations.

DoorDash noted that its restaurant partners were able to drive sales growth in an efficient way. It also provided services by providing $0 delivery fees on Saturday. Through these plans, DoorDash spent more than $15 million in combined commission cuts & marketing efforts. With this step, many restaurants were able to make millions of dollars in incremental sales.

What is next?

As the restaurants are opening gradually, and people are returning for dining, DoorDash would remain devoted to assisting its restaurant partners in navigating in the upcoming period.

On 28 May 2020, DoorDash announced the launch of Main Street Strong, a chain of initiatives taken by the Company to assist restaurants to return to normal and speed up into this new future.

With Main Street Strong, the Company launched a suite of products, programs and policies which is customised as per the unique needs and the feedback from these restaurants. It would also aid restaurants to re-think and expand their business.

While discussing through its partners, DoorDash understood that the restaurants were looking to build several ways to connect with customers. On that front, restaurants will need to be best-in-class digital businesses in the new environment. DoorDash believes that it can help them by:

• Building every restaurant its digital Storefront.
• Propelling Discovery & Demand on the DoorDash Marketplace.

So now the question arises, how? Let us understand the two points one at a time.

Building every restaurant its digital Storefront:

Presently, businesses ranging from mom-and-pops to Fortune 500 companies are using DoorDash Drive to offer goods from their website and mobile platforms. As an element of the Company’s pledge to assist the restaurants in developing and operating their own complete digital ordering solution, it started DoorDash Storefront.

Through DoorDash Storefront, these restaurants by a single click could set up their stores. These online stores would enable customers to order takeout or delivery immediately from the restaurant, and DoorDash Dashers would do the deliveries.

As per DoorDash’s assessment, the percentage of restaurant partners without an online ordering system stands at 40, a significant figure. On this front, the Company aims to offer these partners a solution that would help them adjust to the changing scenario. The solution would offer restaurants generate incremental revenues and expand customer base via their channels.

Further, the Company has plans to rollout DoorDash Storefront soon, where interested restaurants can sign up, and they would be onto Storefront during the entire month.

Propelling Discovery and Demand on the Marketplace:

Other than assisting restaurants in building their own methods of getting in touch with customers, DoorDash is also looking for methods to improve discovery and drive demand for regional restaurants on its DoorDash Marketplace.

The Company, through the #OpenforDelivery campaign, started “Local Restaurant Saturdays” and offered customers $0 delivery charge on all purchases to the regional restaurants during April 2020.

In June 2020, the Company is bringing back the Local Restaurant” promotion every Saturday to drive sales for local restaurant partners. DoorDash is also providing all DashPass subscribers 10 per cent off their pickup purchases during June 2020. Further, it would also invest in growing its Local Favorites carousels.