Uber’s delivery segment continued to outshine its ride-sharing division in the third quarter as the pandemic has at least temporarily reversed the company’s core businesses.
And executives are bullish on the future of Uber Eats post-pandemic, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi leaving open the possibility that it could eventually become as big as rides, given the number of potential restaurant partners still out there. It currently works with 550,000 U.S. restaurants, or 30% of the market.
“I'm not going to make a call as to whether mobility or delivery are going to be bigger,” he said on an earnings call Thursday afternoon. “I want those teams to fight it out. I think the great thing about Uber is that we've got both.”
Gross delivery bookings were up 134% year over year, for a total of more than $8.5 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30. That was a slight acceleration over the second quarter, when gross delivery bookings were up 113%. Delivery revenue was up 125% for a total of $1.5 billion.
Uber Eats also continued to add new users at elevated rates, executives said.
“They're staying longer. They're ordering more, and that translates into very, very strong [monthly active platform consumer] growth,” Khosrowshahi said.
He credited the new Uber rides app, which also allows users to order from Uber Eats, for introducing new delivery customers.
For comparison, rides were recovering but still down significantly year over year: Both gross bookings and revenue decreased 53%.
Fellow third-party delivery company Grubhub saw similar success in the third quarter, suggesting consumers’ delivery demand has some staying power. But some restaurants have cooled on the service recently, saying the fees are eating into their margins.
Despite delivery’s soaring numbers, Uber Eats lost money—an ongoing challenge for third-party delivery services in general. It posted a net loss of $183 million for the quarter, an improvement of 42% over last year.
Uber executives said profitability is coming in the U.S. and will happen the same way it has in foreign markets: strong market share, good selection, high customer loyalty and fast delivery times.
“We just really outperform everybody. And so again, there's nothing special,” said CFO Nelson Chai on the earnings call. “It's just the teams are doing a great job, and we think that we'll be able to bring more countries towards those types of metrics as we continue down the path.”
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