Uber is now in the business of grocery delivery. The San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant has made the new service available in Toronto and Montreal through its existing apps.
The company is providing the new service in partnership with Cornershop, a Chilean grocery delivery startup that Uber is currently in the process of acquiring a majority stake in. Uber said it expects the sale to close, pending regulatory approval, “in the coming days.”
“[This] marks an important step in our partnership with the team at Cornershop to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform.”
The grocery delivery service will be available via Uber’s website and mobile apps, Uber and Uber Eats. It has also launched in select cities in Latin America, and will roll out in the United States later this month.
“Today’s product integration marks an important step in our partnership with the team at Cornershop to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform,” said Raj Beri, Uber’s global head of grocery.
“Uber started on the premise that people should be able to more easily get to the places they need to go, and to people they care about,” Beri added. “This has since evolved to connecting people to food from their favorite local restaurants, and we are thrilled to bring our product expertise to the world of grocery alongside the Cornershop team.”
Grocery orders placed via Uber and Uber Eats will be fulfilled by Cornershop-affiliated shoppers. Customers can track their orders through Uber’s app and request non-contact experiences.
“Cornershop’s technology brings new expertise to Uber’s delivery platform, with over four years operating, refining, and establishing key partnerships for grocery delivery in Latin America, and more recently in the US and Canada,” said Uber.
Cornershop currently operates in Toronto and Montreal with merchants like Metro, Rexall, Walmart, and Costco. The express delivery service company first came to Canada in 2019.
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“We launched Cornershop almost exactly five years ago today and it’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate our anniversary than joining forces with the best on-demand platform around,” said Oskar Hjertonsson, Cornershop’s founder and CEO. “Uber is the perfect partner to bring on-demand groceries from incredible merchant partners at the touch of a button across the Americas.”
According to Uber, Uber Eats serves over 9,500 merchants in more than 30 countries. Uber said the platform has seen a 176 percent increase in grocery orders since February.
Following this launch, Uber intends to make incremental improvements to the grocery experience for shoppers and merchants.
An Uber spokesperson told BetaKit that the company looks forward to expanding to more Canadian cities in the future.
Yesterday, Uber also announced that it was acquiring San-Francisco-based on-demand logistics company Postmates for approximately $2.65 billion. When the transaction closes, Uber plans to keep the Postmates app running separately from Uber Eats, “supported by a more efficient, combined merchant and delivery network.”
Image source Uber