DoorDash Debuts New Shopping Features and Retail Partners

DoorDash is continuing its diversification efforts with a series of new retail partnerships.

The delivery company announced Thursday (March 23) it had added Lush Cosmetics, Victoria’s Secret and Party City to its partner list. With this news came the debut of new shopping features, including “frictionless in-app communication,” delivery windows, express delivery and enhanced search within retail stores.

“Features such as express delivery ensure that our customers get essentials like over-the-counter medicine quickly while enhanced search lets them easily find travel necessities for that last-minute weekend trip,” DoorDash Vice President of New Verticals Fuad Hannon said in a news release.

“We’re proud to develop these features in partnership with retailers as consumers crave convenience, alongside speed and selection.”

The company adds that its selection efforts on its platform and investments in new verticals mean that nearly all of its monthly consumers in the U.S. have access to a non-restaurant retailer via DoorDash.

As PYMNTS wrote earlier this week, DoorDash — among the major aggregators in the U.S. — seems to be focusing on diversification as a key to success, “and the company’s varied moves illustrate how aggregators as a whole are positioning themselves for the future.”

The company’s other non-food ventures include the partnerships it announced last year with both Dick’s Sporting Goods and Big Lots in a wider retail on-demand delivery effort. Through its collaboration with Dick’s, the company will deliver inventory from more than 700 of the retailer’s 850 stores across the country.

The Big Lots partnership, meanwhile, offers delivery from more than 1,400 of the closeout retailer’s stores around in an effort to attract budget-conscious shoppers.

This week also saw DoorDash introduce a Cash on Delivery option for restaurants using its DoorDash Drive white-label fulfillment tools, letting eateries accept cash payments on delivery for digital orders the way consumers would have paid for things like phone orders.

The company said Tuesday (March 21) that the feature is most popular with customers at pizzerias, who have chosen the payment method for 20% of five transactions at pizzerias where the Cash on Delivery option is available.

“There are countless factors from checkout to delivery that contribute to a seamless at-home pizza experience,” Ben Smith, director of operations development at Donatos Pizza, said in a statement. “Cash On Delivery through DoorDash Drive is one way we’ve maintained this high-quality service our loyal customers expect, as we can grow our business online, while still enabling customers to pay with cash should they desire.”