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New DoorDash study looks at quick commerce in online shopping
Data gives new insight into how the on-demand era influences purchase behavior
Supermarket News Staff
October 17, 2023
3 Min Read
The survey revealed that 62% of respondents are ordering consumables online more than they did last year.DoorDash
DoorDash has released a new report based on a survey of 1,200 DoorDash customers that indicates a change in how consumers are purchasing grocery, household, personal care, pet care, and alcohol products or consumables. DoorDash also announced today new ad and promotions capabilities.
To collect the data for the report, Uncovering Consumer Trends in Retail Media, DoorDash surveyed 1,200 US customers in August 2023 who made at least one consumable purchase in the last 30 days on DoorDash along with those who purchased a consumable item through a DoorDash ad in the last 30 days. The report found that the introduction of quick commerce — an emerging channel within digital commerce where shoppers can purchase consumable items for on-demand delivery — has led to a change in last-minute household needs, a consumer desire for faster delivery of consumables and a different path-to-purchase.
Additional key findings include:
The way people purchase consumables is rapidly changing. The survey revealed that 62% of respondents are ordering consumables online more than they did last year. Even further, 81% of respondents reported purchasing consumables via a third-party app/website like DoorDash, search engines, or review sites in the past month. With more than 100,000 non-restaurant stores across our Marketplace and Drive platform, 99% of U.S. DoorDash consumers now have access to grocery, convenience, pet, flower or alcohol retailers.
The need for speed and convenience continues to be important. When shopping online for consumables, the top priorities for respondents are convenience (74%), ease of use (48%), and speed (46%). The average delivery time for grocery and convenience on DoorDash is around 33 minutes, making it easier than ever for consumers to get whatever they need, exactly when they need it.
Consumers are frequently adding impulse buys to their online orders. 60% of consumers surveyed are “somewhat or very likely” to buy new products while browsing online last minute, driven by last minute needs (55%) and the desire to “treat themselves” (45%).
Third-party app use has evolved — so advertising is changing, too. Consumers surveyed are open to finding new brands through advertisements and promotions, and the expectation is that marketing does not feel intrusive. The report showed that 73% of DoorDash consumers surveyed who had purchased an ad or promotion in the past 30 days did not think a promoted item in DoorDash felt like an advertisement.
GroupM, a media investment company, provided the foreword to the report with North America CEO Kirk McDonald noting “these insights make retail media network advertising fertile ground for reaching your target audience with relevant, engaging, non-interruptive advertising to build your brand and drive tangible sales.”
Consumers shopping online aren’t just channel-shifting from brick and mortar to digital, giving brands an opportunity to reach incremental customers they wouldn’t have otherwise captured. Studies conducted across a number of grocery and convenience enterprise partners indicate that DoorDash is 70-90% incremental to their existing customer base, creating new consumer occasions.* In Q2 2023, DoorDash had the highest growth of customers in the industry new to placing convenience, grocery and alcohol orders, based third-party data.
DoorDash has also added new ad formats, deeper campaign insights, targeting, and consumer-driven deal constructs, including:
Sponsored Brands – Piloting New Ad Format: Brands can drive awareness and consideration via new high-impact carousels that combine brand assets with a shoppable selection of products, similar to an in-store end cap.
Sponsored Products – New Reporting Types: To better understand campaign performance, DoorDash has released new-to-brand reporting for campaign, product, and keyword-level. According to DoorDash data, Sponsored Product campaigns drive approximately 70% new-to-brand customers**.
Sponsored Products – Keyword Targeting: To enable deeper control and optimize ad campaigns towards highest-performant terms, DoorDash recently unveiled keyword-level targeting and reporting.
Item-Level Promotions – To drive trial and increase average basket size, brands can now run item level promotions featuring “Buy 2 items from a brand, save $2”. Promotions help reward consumers by savings, and brands can connect with new and recurring customers with an affinity to trial or stock up.
