UberEats Explosive Growth Accounts For Nearly 10 Pct Of Gross Bookings

During the second quarter of this year, UberEats accounted for 8-10 per cent of global gross bookings, which implies $700m-$870m of gross turnover for the unit. Uber’s total gross bookings were $8.7bn for the period.

By comparison, GrubHub, the US food delivery company valued at $4.1bn, reported $880m of gross food sales during the second quarter.

While Uber still derives the majority of its revenues from its transportation services app, UberEats has been growing faster than the core business.

UberEats operates in 29 countries and is on track for a rapid expansion into nearly 200 cities by the end of this year. The service is competing with Amazon’s restaurant delivery service – also launched two years ago, as well as GrubHub, Postmates, DoorDash, and several other smaller companies. Facebook is even getting in on the action, launching a food delivery service last week.

That said, UberEats is still unprofitable in most areas, and faces low margins amidst high competition. One major advantage it has, however, is its fleet of over 2m Uber drivers around the world, who can carry passengers or food.

I can tell you from personal experience – our family has been ordering food delivery through various services for around two years. DoorDash and Postmates were our go-to for a long time, however Uber and Amazon came to our city and offered much lower prices for the actual delivery, as well as more professional drivers who don’t get lost. We were bait-n-switched into ‘Postmates Unlimited’ – $10 / month for free delivery – only to be hit with a brand new 20% fee on all orders. Never again.

The user interface on both the UberEats app and their website is the best by far, and their customer service is amazing.

So while Uber navigates choppy seas of red tape, lawsuits, and management turnover, their food-delivery service is sailing smoothly.