Oct. 5, 2025 "Delivery apps turn to retail stores for revenue growth opportunities": Today I found this article on BNN Bloomberg:
Whether it’s a last-minute Halloween costume
or a 2 a.m. cough syrup shortage,
delivery apps are promising to bring more than just food to your doorstep.
Many Canadians quickly became accustomed to having groceries and takeout delivered to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic,
setting the stage for food delivery apps to flourish.
While food deliveries are still going strong,
the pace of growth has slowed.
So the companies behind the apps are turning to retailers to fuel growth
— partnering with large-scale chains such as
Dollarama,
PetSmart
and Sephora.
Today, calling them food delivery apps may be a misnomer,
said Vince Sgabellone, food service industry analyst at research firm Circana.
While most delivery apps started in the restaurant industry,
their ambitions have grown beyond takeout,
he said.
Skip, a Canadian delivery app, dropped the second part of its name
— The Dishes — last year,
rebranding itself as a company not limited to restaurants.
“They’re explicitly saying, ‘We’re not just all about the food,’” said Sgabellone.
“Canadians are really time-starved,”
said Paul Sudarsan, senior vice-president of partnerships at Skip, in an interview.
“We’ve gone back into the office, or we’ve gone back into routines.”
Sudarsan said consumers were searching for items beyond food on the app,
which is one of the reasons why Skip expanded its services.
The company recently partnered with
Shoppers Drug Mart
and Dollarama,
among other major retailers
and grocers.
Sgabellone said the expansion efforts come as food delivery apps have hit maturity in the restaurant space.
“Delivery is still there,
it’s still an important part of the food service industry,
but it’s not growing by leaps and bounds anymore,”
he said.
Food deliveries make up about six per cent of total traffic at restaurants,
which is double 2019 levels, but still not huge, a 2025 Circana report showed.
Retail can mean new revenue streams,
Sgabellone said.
“If they want to expand their business
... that means they have to open up new channels,
and that means new retail segments,” he said.
Uber Eats has expanded to
retail,
convenience,
electronics
and personal care
— hosting brands such as
Spirit Halloween
and Sephora
on its platform.
Meanwhile, DoorDash has forged partnerships with the likes of
Staples Canada
and Giant Tiger.
These apps are capitalizing on the growing need for convenience,
Sgabellone said.
You don’t have to get in your car and drive to a nearby store
or deal with people at a mall,
he added.
“There is that instant satisfaction opportunity,”
he said.
For Uber Eats, expanding into retail seemed like a natural progression.
“Delivery is now a habit.
It’s not a trend anymore,”
said Klaas Knieriem, head of retail for Uber Eats in Canada.
That’s especially true for younger Canadians in urban areas who are growing up with convenience that’s just a few clicks away,
he said.
Richard Baker, president and founder of Food Distribution Guy,
said delivery apps are tapping into a potential multi-billion dollar opportunity by expanding into retail.
He said even if these apps capture a small share of the market,
it would be significant.
Even just grocery deliveries make a lucrative market for the apps, he said.
“That’s just going to keep growing and growing,” Baker said.
“Gen Zs, for example, (as) they get older, they start their own families, they’re accustomed to this technology.”
Knieriem said Uber Eats’ decision to venture beyond food
wasn’t about saturation in the restaurant space,
but about capitalizing on changing consumer habits.
Uber Eats now
categorizes retailers
alongside restaurants
under different subsections
on the same app.
“We’re not taking our foot off the gas from the restaurant market, because that’s why the app is also called Uber Eats,” Knieriem said.
Most large-scale retailers already have their own delivery channels set up to dispatch products to their customers,
or sell via Amazon.
But delivery apps aren’t competing with them.
Knieriem said Uber Eats’ selling point is the “on-demand value proposition,” with as little as 30 minutes of delivery time,
while Amazon is promising
later in the day
or next-day delivery.
There’s a slightly different use case for customers of DoorDash, said Fuad Hannon, the company’s vice-president of new verticals.
“The traditional grocery order, for example, is a weekly hundred-plus-dollar run,” he said.
At DoorDash, Hannon said
consumers are looking for top-ups,
such as last-minute eggs or milk on a weekday,
which they need as soon as possible
— without having to drive or walk 10 minutes to their nearest store.
Delivery apps are also onboarding mom-and-pop businesses,
such as local florists or a local electronics shop.
But Sgabellone thinks there’s likely going to be some figuring out,
similar to the restaurant industry,
as the apps carve out their space in the retail sector.
He said there’s a cost to businesses for using delivery apps and it may not be right for every business.
But it can be a moneymaker
if the retailer
reconciles its margins
with the delivery fee structure.
“The restaurant industry has figured it out now to a large extent,”
Sgabellone said.
“I think these retailers are going to figure it out as well.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2025.
Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press
Jan. 15, 2026 "Uber Eats diversifies beyond restaurants as delivery market consolidates": Today I found this article by Joshua Santos on BNN Bloomberg:
Uber Eats Canada is diversifying its platform in response to intensifying competition within the delivery sector.
The company says it is shifting its focus beyond
traditional takeout
to provide products Canadian consumers need most.
“People are still ordering their breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
but we’ve been able to expand to meet consumers’ needs to have just about anything delivered on demand,”
Lola Kassim, senior director and general manager of Uber Eats Canada, told BNN Bloomberg in an interview.
“Whether that’s
groceries,
pet food,
alcohol,
or even cannabis,
which we now deliver safely and reliably.”
Since its initial 2015 launch in Toronto,
Uber Eats has seen massive growth,
now operating in 400 Canadian cities,
and Kassim says the company reaches 85 per cent of the Canadian population.
“A key piece for us in making sure that we’re distinctive and differentiating ourselves is
ensuring that we’re available for as many Canadians as we can be, coast to coast,”
she said.
The expansion is part of a broader transition and Kassim says Uber Eats has evolved from a
“luxury” occasional service
into a daily convenience utility,
particularly for busy Canadians.
”It’s just become ingrained in people’s habits,” Kassim said.
Uber recently surpassed one billion deliveries worldwide,
with operations spanning 11,000 cities,
and Kassim highlighted the importance of meeting the needs of delivery service couriers.
“We have to ensure our delivery people are earning
fair
and sustainable earnings,”
she said.
“We want to make sure that they’re able to have
flexible ways
to earn money,
especially as the cost of living remains a concern.”
To address affordability challenges for the end consumer,
Uber Eats says it is leaning heavily into value-driven features.
The company says it frequently collaborates with partners on
“Buy One, Get One” (BOGO) promotions
and is aggressively promoting its Uber One membership.
“People are looking for value,
which is something that we’ve been really leaning into,
especially with our restaurant partners
and our other merchants,”
Kassim said.
The company says it plans to leverage the potential of artificial intelligence to enhance its services.
“We’re going to continue leaning into AI to provide a better consumer experience,
whether it’s how you order in the app,
whether it’s how you order with other AI services you use,
and also the customer support that we’re able to provide,”
said Kassim.
My opinion: My family and I never used any of those delivery apps.
My parents and grandma go grocery shopping every week.
We hardly ever eat out at a restaurant or order food in.
If you want to save time, effort, money and resources, you should go grocery shopping and make a list of food and things to buy.
Delivery apps:
Pros:
You can save
1. Time
2. Effort
3. Money and resources
by having your
take -out food,
groceries
and things
delivered to your home.
Cons:
I was waiting for the bus and talking to this Aboriginal woman who tried out having groceries delivered to her home:
1. You can't pick your own produce, and it may not be fresh.
2. The workers who pick up your food, they don't look at the expiry date.
You might want to pick a product with a later expiry date.
3. The loaf of bread was smushed. She had to go to the store and show her receipt, so she can exchange it for another loaf of bread.
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