Uber is expanding its door-to-door delivery strategy down the grocery aisle.
On Friday, Uber announced its plans to take over a majority share of Cornershop, a leading grocery delivery service in Chile and Mexico. Assuming the acquisition is green-lit by relevant regulatory boards, that means Uber could be delivering groceries as early as 2020.
“Whether it’s getting a ride, ordering food from your favorite restaurant, or soon, getting groceries delivered, we want Uber to be the operating system for your everyday life,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “We’re excited to partner with the team at Cornershop to scale their vision, and look forward to working with them to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform.”
While Uber has struggled to capitalize on its ride-share business, Uber's restaurant delivery service, Uber Eats, remains one of the company's more successful ventures. (That said, Uber Eats isn't profitable either, facing price wars within the food delivery market that continue to spur massive losses overall.)
By capitalizing on Uber's existing driver network, Uber Groceries — or whatever it is going to be called — could push the company towards turning a profit... or push it further into debt. Uber will, of course, be facing off with grocery delivery titans Instacart, AmazonFresh, and Walmart, among others.
“In 2015 we started Cornershop with primarily the Latin American market in mind and we couldn't be more excited to work with Uber to help us take that mission much further,” added Cornershop CEO Oskar Hjertonsson. “Uber is the perfect partner as we embark on our quest to bring our unique flavor of on-demand groceries from incredible retail partners to many more countries around the world."
No word yet on where, when, and how Uber and Cornershop will be bringing groceries to their existing consumer bases as a result of this move.
Topics Uber
