Is there any legitimate bright side to Uber buying Postmates?
This is not to offend anyone working at Postmates but why would any company buy a distant #4 company who has less than 10% of the market? The delivery business doesn’t have loyalty and Postmate’s 10% customers will jump ship to whichever platform has cheaper prices. Can anyone from Uber give me a legitimate reason why they spent 2.5 billion buying Postmates? It’s like the equivalent of Microsoft buying Nokia to get into the phone business. #uber #postmates
As a customer and not an engineer or business person, I can see why Uber would want Postmates, as their app is better in a number of different ways. The UI is less clunky, their recommendations are actual recommendations and not fast food/chain ads, they highlight local business and have features like being able to instantly reorder something you've gotten in the past and having a Postmate get something for you that isn't listed on the app. If you're Uber trying to beat DD, it makes sense to buy an objectively better app with less reach, then roll it into your own product and wow Uber Eats users.
Curious about the app UI. I don’t think I’ve ever thought to myself “Uber’s app has a better interface than Lyft” or “I prefer using United Airlines app over Delta”. Not to say you aren’t right, but I don’t think I’ve ever thought about the Uber Eats UI vs DD. I just open one without thought when I want to order food.
I'm sure it varies person to person for sure, but it's something I always notice. I hate using apps where it feels like things are in the wrong place, and I think currently DD is a lot nicer to use than Uber Eats, although it's not nearly as nice as Postmates.
I’m sure data is a factor as well. What experiments has Postmates run that teams at Uber can learn from. Also 10% is a lot as the market consolidates.
There are certainly a lot of “takes” ppl will have, some more negative than others, but based on my experience thus far here’s my opinion (also disclaimer, I’m at PM): 1) Its an R&D investment. Uber isn’t just owning Postmates’ brand. Its getting their talent. Some will get laid off, of course, but Uber will magically have 100+ new Eats engineers who have experience specifically building delivery software. Uber believes in the future of delivery and needs more resources ASAP to beat DD. 2) Contrary to what you implied, Postmates (similarly to Caviar) DOES have some brand loyalty. Postmates is behind its competition because it’s smaller, less feature-heavy, has fewer restaurants, etc. And yet 10% of ppl STILL USE IT over DD and Eats, which are objectively better. PM has great design & branding that certain demographics love. 3) The plan of transitioning customers from PM to UE will be careful and strategic. The idea is to make it as frictionless as possible, and any PM user whose been loyal (esp. premium members) will be able to start ordering from the Eats app seamlessly. So that should hedge customer attrition. These thoughts are based off the merger work I’ve seen / heard about happening thus far. I think my first point in that list is really the primary thing. Curious to hear other’s thoughts.