DoorDash Adds Alcohol Delivery Through Its Marketplace 2021-09-20 (2)

DoorDash is adding alcohol delivery through its DoorDash Marketplace service, allowing customers looking for a particular beverage to browse offerings from a variety of retailers and restaurants. 

San Francisco-based DoorDash said in a news release Monday that the alcohol catalogue it has built contains 30,000 SKUs available for purchase from grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants and local retailers. The new offering is meant to create a "seamless alcohol ordering experience for customers," whether they're looking for "to-go drinks from a favorite local restaurant or a celebratory champagne from a nearby local store," the company stated.

Consumers in markets where alcohol delivery through DoorDash is allowed—currently 20 states and Washington, D.C., as well as Canada and Australia—can toggle to the DoorDash app's alcohol tab to browse and begin their order. The new service is DoorDash's latest step, the company said, in its "multiyear journey of fulfilling alcohol on-demand delivery for many national and local merchants via their own channels."

In markets where DoorDash's recently debuted DoubleDash multi-merchant service is getting off the ground, the alcohol-delivery offering is an opportunity for grocers and other retailers to capture sales from consumers looking to add a bottle of wine or a six-pack of beer at retail price to their restaurant delivery order—and maybe to add a forgotten grocery item or two to their order when they do so. The company's "Dasher" deliver drivers, then, can bundle multiple orders in deliveries to a single address. 

"We're committed to providing new earning opportunities for merchants and Dashers; a safe, high-quality experience for customers; and being a responsible leader in compliant alcohol delivery," DoorDash director of alcohol strategy and operations Caitlin Macnamara said in the release. Restaurants and grocers that add alcohol delivery can see their average order values increase by as much as 30%, the company claimed. 

DoorDash added that it is using multiple ID checks through the ordering and delivery process to ensure that customers are of legal age and allows consumers to opt out of alcohol-related marketing communications and promotions and to exclude themselves from alcohol delivery.