Rapid delivery big hitter, DoorDash, has added Lush Cosmetics, Victoria’s Secret, and Party City as retail partners, and also announced new shopping features.
These include more options that will allow consumers to schedule ahead with delivery windows or have their essentials delivered faster with express delivery.
DoorDash has also improved the search and discovery experience for people to easily search within their favourite retail store to find the specific items they need. Now with more relevant in-stock options, they can quickly add to cart with on-demand delivery in under an hour, on average.
Consumers can also share their substitution preferences and communicate with a Dasher if a change or swap is needed.
“Our mission is to bring consumers all the best of their neighbourhoods to their doorstep, including retail, grocery, convenience, and alcohol items, at low cost while saving them time,” says Fuad Hannon, VP of New Verticals at DoorDash.
“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.”
“We’re proud to develop these features in partnership with retailers as consumers crave convenience, alongside speed and selection.”
All apologies
At the tail end of last year, DoorDash said it was laying off 1,250 people as it looked to rein in costs.
CEO Tony Xu stated in a message to employees: “This is the most difficult change to DoorDash that I’ve had to announce in our almost 10-year history.”
“Today, we are reducing our corporate headcount by approximately 1,250 people and saying goodbye to many talented teammates. If you are among those impacted, I am truly sorry and I apologise to have some of you wake up to this news as opposed to reading it during more normal hours.”
This is the most difficult change to DoorDash that I’ve had to announce in our almost 10-year history. Today, we are reducing our corporate headcount and saying goodbye to many talented teammates. https://t.co/xSYUVLwp17
— Tony Xu (@t_xu) November 30, 2022
Xu went on to say that, prior to Covid-19, DoorDash was undersized as a company. The pandemic presented sudden and unprecedented opportunities for the company.
“We sped up our hiring to catch up with our growth and started many new businesses in response to feedback from our audiences,” Xu said.
“Most of our investments are paying off, and while we’ve always been disciplined in how we have managed our business and operational metrics, we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth. That’s on me. As a result, operating expenses grew quickly.”
In terms of the macro situation, “our business has been more resilient than other e-commerce companies, but we too are not immune to the external challenges and growth has tapered vs our pandemic growth rates.”
“While our business continues to grow fast, given how quickly we hired, our operating expenses – if left unabated – would continue to outgrow our revenue.”
Xu added: “I did not take this decision lightly. We have and will continue to reduce our non-headcount operating expenses, but that alone wouldn’t close the gap. This hard reality ultimately led me to make this painful decision to reduce our team size.”
He insisted that he continues to be very optimistic about the future and convinced of the importance of the role his company can play in the world.
“DoorDash has always been a resilient company. For the first half of our history, we were constantly cash-starved and under-resourced compared to our peers. Today, we are a market leader that is still in its early innings of becoming the defining local commerce company globally.”
Xu declared: “The runway ahead is massive and we’ve built tremendous momentum.”
“If we can achieve our mission to grow and empower local economies around the world, not only will we prosper as a business but I also believe much good will be achieved as we create a world where millions of merchants can thrive, bringing out the best of our neighbourhoods’ ethos and personalities.”
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