Quick grocery delivery startups like Getir, gopuff and gorillas. However, even in the face of competition and sky-high operating costs, they are taking every possible step to survive. Case in point, Gopuff today launched features that eliminate some of the platform’s biggest weaknesses, such as the inability to schedule pre-orders or receive orders from nearby warehouses.
Starting today, Gopuff customers can place orders when the Gopuff market is closed — exact hours depending on the market — for Gopuff to deliver as soon as the market reopens. (Needless to say, this doesn’t apply to locations where Gopuff ships 24/7.) Alternatively, customers can schedule their pre-orders at a specific date and time, similar to most other locations. main food delivery app or schedule an order to be picked up where Gopuff offers in-store and retail shopping.
The in-store shopping experience is still quite limited. According to Gopuff, only in BevMo! shop – recall that Gopuff acquires BevMo!, a liquor retailer, for $350 million in 2020 — and New York City locations are becoming an in-store shopping option. However, Gopuff said (it’s not clear how many locations) will offer strict online order picking at multiple locations, with hours reflecting the time it takes to place orders in the app.
Gopuff is also introducing a gifting feature, allowing customers to add gifts to their cart for recipients both on and off the platform. When they enter the recipient’s address, name, and phone number, and the gift message, both the recipient of the gift and the sender will receive a text message confirming the gift order is being prepared. Recipients will also receive SMS notifications when an order is low, delivered, or cancelled.
Gopuff did not initially respond to TechCrunch’s question about whether gift recipients’ information was withheld for marketing or other purposes. Gopuff, like many app-based products and services, collect large amounts of personal information that it reserves the right to use to target advertising and promote its subscription services, as well as to share with third parties including business partners and “expenses”. branches and subsidiaries”.
In a follow-up email, a Gopuff spokesperson clarified that gift recipient information is not withheld for use in these ways.
The new features are only available through the latest Gopuff app (version 8.1.0), which the company notes, which began rolling out nationally this morning. While Gopuff has partnerships with Uber and Just Eat Takeaway to make their inventory accessible through Uber Eats and Grubhub respectively, the company says that customers using those platforms will can’t take advantage of order scheduling, gift giving, and pickup — despite the fact that Uber Eats and Grubhub support those features for most other businesses.
Gopuff has been having a hard time lately, no pun intended. initial plan IPO right in the middle of 2022 later exploit former Disney CEO Bob Iger as advisor and investor, Gopuff this summer plug out of Spain, one of their markets, to cut costs and lay off 10% of the global workforce. More Cut Gopuff hit in October – mostly affecting various customer service departments – when the startup report sought to secure lines of credit as high as $300 million to combat inflation headwinds.
