Delivery Firms Boost Alcohol to Drive Loyalty and Increase Spend

DoorDash is making it easier for existing restaurant customers to adopt its beer, wine and spirits options as leading U.S. aggregators look to leverage their alcohol offerings to create additional sales occasions and/or increase typical orders’ basket size.

On Thursday (Oct. 6), the delivery firm announced the launch of a new feature, Drinks with DoubleDash, enabling consumers to add alcoholic beverages from area liquor, convenience and grocery retailers to their restaurant orders without additional delivery fees or order minimums.

“We are excited to unveil the latest DoubleDash innovation with the introduction of Drinks, giving customers the opportunity to pair their perfect drink with any meal on DoorDash, conveniently bundled all in one order,” Ben Damon, product manager at DoorDash, said in a statement.

The company originally debuted the DoubleDash feature in the summer of 2021, enabling consumers to add items such as snacks and soft drinks from a list of retailers comprised mainly of convenience stores to their restaurant orders. The addition of alcoholic beverages to this option presents DoorDash with the opportunity to drive sales of these items with consumers who already engage with its restaurant offerings rather than asking them to go out of their way to order these beverages separately.

Related news: DoubleDashed, Double Vaxxed And Double Shacked

DoorDash is not the only delivery firm looking to grow its beer, wine and spirits business. On Tuesday (Oct. 4), Grubhub announced a partnership with Gopuff to sell from the latter’s dark stores through the aggregator’s marketplace, adding Gopuff’s considerable alcohol inventory to Grubhub’s offerings.

“Diners now have more options when it comes to ordering fresh food, grocery items, snacks, and alcohol — all from the convenience of the Grubhub app,” Ariella Kurshan, senior vice president of growth at Grubhub, said in a statement. “These expanded offerings complement Grubhub’s vast restaurant network and keep diners engaged across the Grubhub Marketplace.”

See also: Grubhub Marketplace to Offer Gopuff Locations, Delivery

Meanwhile, Uber Eats is focusing not only on driving sales through its on-demand alcoholic beverage delivery subsidiary, Drizly, but also on boosting the revenue it brings in another way, through ad sales. Last month, the company unveiled its Drizly Ads suite of products, using sales data and analytics to introduce brands to customers in hopes that they hit it off and form a long-term relationship.

Read more: Retailers Sharpen in-House Ads to Bring Fresh Revenue, Better Brand Service

“We know our partners are shifting to an omnichannel approach in how they market their brands to consumers,” Amit Patel, SVP of Drizly Ads and Partnerships, said in the company’s announcement. “We’re now making it even easier for partners to advertise their products on our marketplace.”

Certainly, the landscape is growing more competitive when it comes to aggregators’ ad businesses, and they do not only need to compete with each other but also with other, more specialized businesses looking to seize on consumers’ instant beer, wine and spirits needs. For instance, on Thursday, premium and luxury spirits eTailer ReserveBar launched its own on-demand delivery option.

“ReserveBar on-demand will unlock many more occasions by enabling consumers to get their products faster, while still offering access to a much broader array of products than may be available at their local retailer,” Derek Correia, ReserveBar president, said in a statement.

All these players are looking to capture consumers’ increased demand for options to purchase alcohol online, a lingering result of quarantine’s effects on consumers’ habits. A PYMNTS survey of nearly 2,000 consumers last year found that almost half of all consumers (49%) reported purchasing alcohol online for same-day delivery more since the pandemic began.

You may also like: Alcohol Habits Change Since The Start Of The Pandemic