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UberEATS set for $3 billion in annual sales
BI Intelligence
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UberEATS, Uber’s food delivery service, is poised to bring in over $3 billion in gross sales for 2017, according to Business Insider, citing a report from the Financial Times.
While Uber has not confirmed the report, it appears that UberEATS accounted for 8-10% of the maligned ride-sharing company’s global gross bookings in Q2 2017, making it an important part of Uber’s future. UberEATS currently operates in 108 cities, and plans to reach 200 by the end of 2017.
The food delivery service benefits from Uber’s driver base, but has struggled to attain profitability. UberEATS utilizes Uber’s huge number of drivers in its various markets, while also boasting UberEATS-specific couriers. This equips the service with a great network to ensure fast and consistent food delivery. However, despite this potential advantage, the report states that UberEATS is profitable in only 27 of its 108 cities. So while $3 billion in annual gross sales would be impressive, the service still needs to work to become more efficient.
Moreover, UberEATS faces some steep competition in the food delivery space.Grubhub had $3 billion in gross food sales in 2016, and turned a $49.6 million profit. Additionally, more customers reported using Grubhub (34%) than any other service in early 2017, and it has since acquired Eat24, likely boosting its numbers even further. Twenty percent of consumers reported using UberEATS, an impressive share, but Amazon came in close behind with 11%, indicating that maintaining a top spot in the growing food delivery industry will not be a cakewalk.
That said, UberEATS may be able to hold its own by tapping into its parent company's massive user base — Grubhub had only 9.18 million active diners in Q2, compared with Uber's reported 40 million monthly active riders.
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