Dive Brief:

• Uber Eats has expanded its features to provide more options to help consumers find and purchase items for the holidays and entertaining, the company said Monday.
• Features include a holiday shop with a curated selection of items; the ability to gift a meal to a recipient across 10,000 cities; and gift card scheduling that can be used for rides and delivery. 
• Uber Eats has added a stream of new features for consumers and partner restaurants this year, including voice ordering, enhanced group ordering, integrations with Toast and Clover and nationwide food shipping.

Dive Insight:

These features are expected to boost revenue for merchants and restaurants, an Uber Eats spokesperson said. While the platform already offered gift cards, the ability to schedule them will allow consumers to have gift cards delivered at a specific time via email. Uber Eats’ Holiday Shop, which includes merchants like Walgreens and Total Wine & More will make it easier for consumers to pick and choose items from multiple retailers.

Uber Eats has also made it easier for consumers to search for alcoholic items as part of its holiday push. An advanced alcohol search will allow consumers to compare price and delivery times. The platform also added the ability to request custom orders from merchants if a consumer can’t find the exact food item they’re looking for. So if a bakery doesn’t have the exact cookies a consumer is looking for, the customer could send a message to see if the bakery would be able to make them, a spokesperson said. 

Adding these offerings could help Uber Eats capture an expected increase in holiday spending. The National Retail Federation expects holiday retail sales will grow 6% and 8% for November and December, respectively, compared to 2021. The NRF expects holiday spending to total between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. 

Uber Eats has been rolling out additional tools to boost engagement on its platforms. It phased out its Uber Rewards program in lieu of its Uber One subscription, which has 10 million members. The subscription offers $0 delivery fees, 5% off rides and 10% off delivery orders for $9.99 per month.

Uber Eats posted a 19% increase in gross bookings for the U.S. and Canada during the third quarter and record-high EBITDA margins of 1.7%, according to Uber’s Q3 2022 prepared remarks statements. The company added Little Caesars and Wingstop to its platform in recent months and now has a “vast majority of large enterprises” on the platform, which helps increase overall quality across its markets, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the remarks.