With New Delivery Service, Uber Declares War on Google and Amazon

Uber

Uber is already an expert in getting you from door-to-door. Now, the company wants to figure out how to deliver stuff to your door as well.

On Tuesday, Uber announced a pilot program for what it calls Uber Corner Store, a service that would allow Uber users in the Washington D.C. area to get staple items like toothpaste and bandages delivered from local stores. According to a blog post, the program will only last a few weeks, but it hints at CEO Travis Kalanick’s long-term vision for Uber, which is to transform the company from a pure transportation play into a full-fledged logistics company.

Uber has never been one to back down from a fight. Since its earliest days, it has wrestled with regulators and fought dirty with competitors like Lyft. But all of that may be child’s play compared to what could come next. With Corner Store, the five-year-old startup could be setting itself up for an all-out war with two of tech’s superpowers: Google and Amazon.

It hints at CEO Travis Kalanick’s long-term vision for Uber, which is to transform the company from a pure transportation play into a full-fledged logistics company.

In recent years, the two giants have been aggressively vying for a share of the same-day delivery market. Earlier this month, Amazon expanded its Get It Today service to six new locations. Meanwhile, Google has been consistently adding retailers to its Shopping Express service. These moves are both a response to the growing on-demand economy and a ploy to get shoppers so hooked on a single service, from beginning to end, so that they’ll rarely shop anywhere else. As WIRED’s Marcus Wohlsen recently described the battle: “logistics—the tech industry’s boring sideshow—has emerged as its central drama.”

Corner Store items can be delivered within the shaded areas. Uber

Uber certainly has plenty of catching up to do. But the company also has one major advantage: it has played perhaps the biggest role in developing this on-demand economy. Uber taught us to treat our phones like remote controls for the real world, in which we can summon anything, from vehicles to pizza to pot, with the push of a button. Which is why it’s not entirely crazy to imagine that people might be more inclined to use Uber than other services to buy things they need right this minute.

Uber taught us to treat our phones like remote controls for the real world, in which we can summon anything, from vehicles to pizza to pot, with the push of a button

That said, Uber will have to figure out a way to make money on this service, either by taking a cut of sales or by charging customers a delivery fee. For now, the service is free for customers, who merely cover the costs of whatever items they bought.

Of course, this war will have its casualties. Startups like WunWun and Postmates have built businesses exclusively around courier and delivery services. As larger competitors like Google, Amazon, and even Uber continue to offer their existing customers those same services, shoppers may have less reason to seek out another delivery app. That could grossly limit the market for startups like WunWun and Postmates and relegate them to glorified messenger services.

For now, Uber maintains that Corner Store is merely an experiment. “But,” the blog post reads, “the more you love it, the more likely it will last.”