DashPass, DoubleDash And Drones: DoorDash Plans To 'Connect Every Local Business To Every Local Consumer'

DoorDash Inc. DASH is shifting its focus beyond food delivery, with CEO Tony Xu outlining plans during the company’s earnings call to expand more broadly into local commerce through a range of new services and tech innovations.

What Happened: On Tuesday, during the company’s first quarter earnings call, Xu spoke of the company’s goal of “connecting every local business to every local consumer,” before outlining how recent product moves, such as the DashPass membership program, the DoubleDash service, and its investments in autonomous deliveries fit into the same.

Xu sees a lot more potential in DashPass, beyond just the free deliveries that DoorDash users have come to expect. He calls it a “membership to the physical world,” designed to engage and offer a growing array of local services. “There would be no other program in which you would have more or gain more utility,” he says.

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DoubleDash, which allows users to shop from multiple stores in a single order with no added fees, will soon feature every retail catalog in their respective cities, according to Xu. He, however, adds that “we’re still in the work of just getting the basics right.”

Xu says DoorDash will be rolling out its autonomous delivery tech in Los Angeles, which it continues to test in other markets. “You don’t need a 4,000-pound vehicle to deliver a one- or two-pound item or package,” he says, while adding that the first and last “10 feet problem” still needs to be solved.

Why It Matters: The company recently entered into hemp-derived THC and CBD deliveries, a niche which the company notes has high repeat purchases and basket sizes, since orders are often bundled with alcohol and snacks.

Early this week, the company announced its intent to acquire European food delivery company, Deliveroo PLC (OTCMKTS: DROOF) in a $3.9 billion deal, which would allow the combined companies to serve 1 billion people across 40 different countries.

DoorDash is already a dominant player in urban markets. Domino’s Pizza Inc. DPZ, which was holding out against delivery services for years, finally made the decision to join the platform, after realizing the incremental sales it can provide in the face of dropping same-store sales, calling third-party platforms a $1 billion opportunity for the company.

However, DoorDash’s use of its dominant position to gain a competitive edge has come under scrutiny. Uber Technologies Inc. UBER, which operates rival platform Uber Eats, has filed a lawsuit accusing DoorDash of engaging in anticompetitive conduct for pressuring restaurants into exclusivity contracts.

During its first quarter results on Tuesday, DoorDash reported $3.03 billion in revenue, up 21% YoY, but missed top-line estimates at $3.09 billion. It posted a profit of $0.44 per share, ahead of consensus estimates at $0.39 per share.

Price Action: The stock was down 7.44% on Tuesday, following the company’s miss on revenue estimates, it is now up 0.75% after hours.