DoorDash Commerce Platform Allows Businesses to Create Direct-to-Consumer Channels

DoorDash has introduced new tools designed to help merchants manage their in-store and online businesses, build their own branded mobile apps and manage their businesses while on the go.

Together, these tools are designed to provide new ways for merchants to grow their sales and increase their profitability, the company said in a Wednesday (Sept. 25) press release.

“The DoorDash Commerce Platform is designed to meet this need by offering a comprehensive set of tools that allow merchants to create direct channels — whether through online, phone or in-store ordering — and build lasting, direct relationships with their customers,” Prabir Adarkar, president and chief operating officer at DoorDash, said in the release.

The DoorDash Commerce Platform helps merchants operate their business on their own channels, whether in-store or online, according to the release. It includes products that let merchants offer delivery through their own app or website, online ordering, phone ordering via an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system, tableside order and pay, and customer support.

The new Online Ordering Mobile Apps allow restaurants to create their own branded mobile apps that, together with the DoorDash Commerce Platform, create a cohesive experience for their customers across different touch points, the release said.

In addition, the DoorDash Business Manager App has been updated to include quick access to payouts and sales tracking, marketing campaign management and reporting, and a personalized home page feed with recommended actions for the merchant’s stores on DoorDash, per the release. These new features join the app’s existing business and order management capabilities.

“At our core, DoorDash is a merchant-focused company,” Adarkar said in the release. “Our mission has always been to develop products and services that empower local merchants to succeed.”

It was reported in July that DoorDash was exploring software that would let merchants build online storefronts, accept online payments and accept eCommerce returns directly from consumers.

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said in August that not only are aggregator sales on the rise, but restaurants’ direct digital ordering channels are also benefiting.

“If you look at digital, … that’s growing not just for us at DoorDash on our marketplace, it’s also growing for us in our first-party platform, as we power a lot of these restaurant and retailer websites for ordering, as well as their delivery channels.”