Uber users will soon see a ‘grocery’ button in ride-hailing, Eats apps

Uber started as a ride-hailing app in 2009, but it expanded into restaurant delivery in 2014. Now, it’s offering groceries.

On Tuesday, Uber added grocery delivery in its app through Chilean startup Cornershop. To begin, users in 19 Latin American and Canadian cities can use the new option to buy groceries from major stores like Walmart, Metro, Lider, Jumbo, and others. By the end of this month, groceries are supposed to arrive in Dallas and Miami to kick off U.S. deliveries.

In the Uber and Uber Eats apps there’ll now be a tab for groceries for users in these cities: Campinas, Goiania, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Concepción, La Serena, Santiago, Valparaiso, Bogota, Lima, Florianópolis, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Montreal, and Toronto. 

Once you’ve clicked on the grocery tab, a list of available grocery stores will come up or you can search for a product. Once you’ve select a store to “shop” you can browse by aisle or for that specific item, like pita chips or grapes. Cornershop couriers and shoppers will pick up the groceries and deliver them. Additionally, Uber said its Uber and Eats contractors will soon be able to sign up for Cornershop shopping and delivery work as well. If smaller merchants want to be listed on the app alongside big grocery chains, those owners can reach out to Cornershop to apply.

Uber acquired Cornershop back in 2019, but hadn’t integrated it into its own suite of apps until now. The standalone Cornershop app is still operating as usual throughout Canada, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, and other countries. For the first time, Uber is stepping into the grocery scene, which has exploded in demand because of the pandemic. 

During a media call this week, Uber Eats head of grocery Raj Beri noted in the past few months, “A lot of customers are trying grocery delivery for the first time.” Meanwhile, ride requests are still in recovery after months of stay-at-home orders kept riders home.

At the start of the coronavirus outbreak, Uber was offering medical supplies and toiletries delivery through a pilot program. At that time, it hadn’t stepped into groceries yet. Looks like its time is now.