Square has brought DoorDash onto its on-demand delivery platform for Square online sellers, who can harness a countrywide network of Dashers as a fulfillment choice via a new partnership with DoorDash Drive, according to an announcement emailed to PYMNTS.
“We’re so excited to team up with DoorDash,” David Rusenko, head of eCommerce at Square, said in the announcement. “We’re dedicated to providing restaurants access to the tools they need to thrive, especially during this challenging new business environment, and look forward to partnering with DoorDash to help achieve that goal.”
On-demand delivery lets merchants own their fulfillment flow by providing delivery straight to their client base from their own sites. Merchants pay a fixed charge of $1.50 per order to Square, along with a flat DoorDash delivery charge. Eateries can have the purchaser pay part of the charges or can provide custom delivery promotions.
After an order is made on the restaurant’s Square Online ordering page, a DoorDash Dasher is sent to retrieve the order and transport it to the purchaser. The purchaser can monitor their food during each part of the process, with links to live maps that offer in-the-moment information on the courier’s headway.
Merchants also benefit when combining on-demand delivery with other offerings such as Square Loyalty and Square Marketing to bolster client relationships, encourage new customers to keep returning and foster open lines of communication with regulars, according to the announcement.
The news comes as DoorDash is reportedly seeing its estimated valuation increase to some $28 billion as the food delivery company proceeds with its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO). DoorDash pointed out in a recent filing that it is only capturing a small bit of the overall U.S. market for food delivery.
“Our [gross order volume] in 2019 represented less than 3 percent of this off-premise spend, highlighting the large addressable opportunity ahead of us in the food vertical alone,” the delivery company wrote in its recent S-1 filing. “We are also beginning to expand into other verticals beyond food, and our ambition is to empower all types of local businesses.”