Dive Brief:
- DoorDash is expanding its global market footprint to Melbourne, Australia, according to a company press release.
- Dubbed "the most livable city in the world," DoorDash is hoping to capitalize on the large number of food vendors in the area. It already boasts thousands of area restaurants on its platform and has partnered with popular chains like Nando's, Salsa's, Boost Juice and Betty's Burgers, as well as local favorites.
- As part of its new venture, DoorDash is offering free delivery on orders over $10 for the first 30 days, as well as a 30 or $30 promotion guaranteeing delivery within a half hour.
Dive Insight:
The Australian delivery market boasts 7.1 million users as of 2019, according to Statista, and yields over $1.6 billion in sales. Restaurant-to-consumer sales dominate these transactions, claiming $1 billion of the total revenue in 2018, while app-based deliveries trail behind. As the market for delivery in Australia has grown, this ratio has stayed roughly the same.
"We dove deep into the Australian market and quickly realized two things; restaurants want more from their delivery partners, and not all Melburnians have access to the selection that they should expect," DoorDash General Manager, Australia, Thomas Stephens said in a statement about the launch.
DoorDash is entering a market that already faces serious competition, however. Big players like Uber Eats and Deliveroo already operate in the space, as well as a few other players like Menulog. But many of these companies have been having a tough go, with Deliveroo failing to increase revenue even though it has been adding more restaurants to its platform, reaching 10,000 partners in March.
Uber Eats has been battling a number of legal issues regarding its agreements, while parent company Uber lost $656 million in Q2 of 2019. Last year, German-based food delivery service Foodora pulled out of the Australian market, citing a desire to seek out markets with higher growth potential.
Perhaps the best Australian food delivery success story belongs to Domino's Australia, which has been testing things like AI technology to improve order quality and accuracy.
