Dive Brief:

• DoorDash on Monday added nationwide shipping to its app, allowing customers to order from restaurants and retailers across the country with no delivery fee. Restaurants available so far include Hoboken, New Jersey's Carlo's Bakery; New York City's Katz's Delicatessen and Momofuku; Franklin, Tennessee's Big Shakes Hot Chicken; and Portland, Maine's Get Maine Lobster, according to the company's website.
• Consumers who use the app can click the "Nationwide Shipping" carousel to explore all available merchants and their food options. Diners can have their orders shipped as soon as possible or choose a future delivery date up to three months out, and can select free 1-2 day shipping. Diners can also send an order as a gift.
• Nationwide delivery further diversifies DoorDash's platform, which now includes alcohol and grocery delivery. The offering also pits DoorDash against food e-commerce platform Goldbelly, which experienced 300% growth year-over-year in 2020 and landed a $100 million funding round in May. 

Dive Insight:

It's possible that DoorDash's nationwide delivery offering could erode some of Goldbelly's market share given the aggregator's scale and a lack of many additional competitors in the segment. DoorDash controls the largest share by far of the traditional restaurant delivery category at 57%. Still, it will need to play catchup with Goldbelly, which currently works with over 900 partners across the U.S.

But DoorDash is hungry for segment dominance. DoorDash president Christopher Payne said in an interview with CNN that the company's goal is to have "thousands and thousands of restaurants ship anywhere across the United States."

DoorDash's strong brand recognition and category reach could entice existing restaurant partners to offer nationwide delivery and could also attract new operators to the platform.

Get Maine Lobster CEO Mark Murrell alluded to these benefits in a DoorDash blog post, stating, "DoorDash is a trusted brand that's going to help us introduce more people to the heritage and flavors of Maine lobster and fine seafood. We love what we do and can't wait to grow our business thanks to the power and reach of their platform."

DoorDash could also take some of the wind out of Goldbelly's sails if it can lure Goldbelly's partners to also offer nationwide delivery on its site. Momofuku, for example, is now on both platforms.

Even though the nationwide food delivery market is smaller and more niche than DoorDash's existing categories, it gives the delivery aggregator broader access to strong diner demand for off-premise meal occasions — a strategy restaurants and adjacent platforms have also deployed to take advantage of market changes. Burger King parent company Restaurant Brands International raised funds for home-cooked delivery service WoodSpoon in August, for example, after the startup experienced 50% month-over-month growth in sales, customers, chefs onboarding and revenue.