DoorDash Launches Digital Convenience Stores

DoorDash is rolling out digital convenience stores in a bevy of major cities as it ups the ante in the fierce battle for market share in the fast-growing delivery sector.

DoorDash on Wednesday (Aug. 5) unveiled DashMart, an array of online convenience stores that offer C-store items like ice cream and chips, along with other products from local grocery stores and restaurants.

The rollout of DashMart will initially cover eight cities: Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dallas, Salt Lake City, the greater Phoenix area and Redwood City, California, wrote Andrew Ladd, director of new verticals at DoorDash, in a piece posted on the company’s website.

DoorDash said it plans to add more cities in the coming months, including Baltimore, Denver, Sacramento and Concord, California. The digital stores are owned and curated by DoorDash, with thousands of different items provided by local convenience stores, restaurants and supermarkets.

The move comes amid rapid growth at DoorDash and other delivery services amid the coronavirus crisis, with consumers increasingly relying on these services as infection rates rise across the country.

“DashMart is a new type of convenience store, offering both household essentials and local restaurant favorites to our customers’ doorsteps,” DoorDash’s Ladd writes. “On DashMart, you’ll find thousands of convenience, grocery and restaurant items, from ice cream and chips, to cough medicine and dog food, to spice rubs and packaged desserts from the local restaurants you love on DoorDash.”

The rollout of DashMart follows DoorDash’s April launch of a new “convenience category” that featured agreements with CVS, Walgreens, Wawa and other stores.

DoorDash in June raised an additional $400 million from investors to help fuel its growth, a deal that valued the startup at a hefty $16 billion.

The delivery service also recently launched a Main Street initiative aimed at bolstering its restaurant and retail partners amid the challenges of the pandemic.