DoorDash Builds out Food Empire With New Grocery Delivery Partners

As the largest grocers in the country build out their in-house fulfillment capabilities, with Kroger on a spree of opening new eCommerce fulfillment centers and Walmart now even offering white-label fulfillment to other retailers, the next tier of grocers is still stuck for the most part with third-party options.

Noting these grocers’ need for eCommerce infrastructure and the impracticality of building their own networks, food delivery aggregator DoorDash has been seizing the opportunity to expand the grocery options on its marketplace. Most recently, the company announced Friday (Sept. 9) that it is partnering with The Raley’s Companies, which includes the Raley’s and Bashas’ brands, to provide grocery delivery from 213 locations.

The news comes just one day after Southeastern Grocers, parent company of supermarket brands Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie, announced that it is rolling out delivery and curbside pickup options fulfilled via the aggregator’s white-label fulfillment service DoorDash Drive. Through the program, prices across these channels will match in-store prices, including deals and promotions.

“After extensive research and listening to customer feedback, we recognized there was a need for delivery and curbside pickup options that reflected the same great prices and deals shopping in our stores provide,” Southeastern Grocers Chief Customer and Digital Officer Andrew Nadin said in a statement. “We believe shopping online should be an extension of shopping your local stores, and our new offering is just that.”

Indeed, many consumers now order groceries every month, according to data from the July edition of PYMNTS’ ConnectedEconomy™ series, “The ConnectedEconomy™ Monthly Report: The Rise of the Smart Home.” The study, which drew from a May survey of nearly 2,700 United States consumers, found that 40% order groceries online for home delivery every month. Additionally, more than half of those grocery shoppers did so once a week or more. Plus, the study also found that 37% of consumers order groceries for curbside pickup each month, and 22% do so at least once a week.

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Southeastern Grocers to power their online fulfillment that will give consumers even more opportunities to enjoy the convenience of on-demand grocery, whether at home or on the go,” DoorDash Vice President of Business Development Shanna Prevé said in a statement.

For DoorDash, these partnerships enable the aggregator to touch a greater share of consumers’ overall food purchases, becoming a more essential part of how they get their food needs met. Additionally, the white-label component enables the aggregator to hold onto a piece of the transaction even as grocers prioritize their direct ordering channels.

“The mission of the company is to, on one hand, build the largest local commerce marketplace, where we’re driving incremental demand to all of these retailers, whether they be restaurants, grocers, convenience stores, other types of retail stores,” DoorDash Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO Tony Xu told analysts on a call last month. “And then, on the other hand, build the largest local commerce platform where we give the tools, whether it’s Logistics-as-a-Service in the form of DoorDash Drive or Ordering-as-a-Service in the form of DoorDash Storefront, to all of these retailers so that they can build their own digital operations.”