In addition to opening its platform to businesses, Uber has also partnered with companies such as Shopify and ChowNow so clients of those platforms can plug UberRush into their storefronts and offer it as a delivery option. She said Uber does not guarantee timing for a delivery but that the service will be “a lot faster than anything Chicagoans have previously had access to”. Each Uber Rush delivery will cost the merchant between $5 and $7.
Advertisement
Postmates, its most direct competitor for on-demand delivery, uses a similar model, taking a cut of the total value of each sale. “It is no longer an experiment”. “It’s a business for us”, said Jason Droege, who runs UberEverything, the part of the company that tests new initiatives outside of the ride-hailing business. With Uber Rush, you order from the business and Uber handles the delivery in the background.
Uber said it is targeting smaller, local retailers and restaurants with this offering, not bigger brands like Target or Nordstrom.
“We’ve built a scalable and reliable way to send items n the same day to customers”, Mohrer told The Post, noting that UberRUSH uses couriers on bike and foot, rather than the fleet of black cars employed by its ride-hailing service.
Drivers who wish to drive for UberRush will have to opt in and receive training on package deliveries.
For merchants that use software providers like Shopify, the Uber same-day delivery button will appear as an option to customers when they’re checking out – but only if the delivery address is within the vicinity of the merchant. But not all drivers will have passengers at all times, so what Uber is effectively doing is putting the untapped potential of its vast transport network to better use, a network that has already been used to help deliver meals and other products around the world.
The company said it is expanding its merchandise delivery program, called UberRush, to San Francisco and Chicago from a pilot program in New York. The rest of the fee is given to the courier.
Advertisement
“That’s a service that’s available to consumers”. Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann says the company makes about 20 percent gross profit margins on each of its deliveries and is on track to be profitable in 2016.
