Uber Eats is getting into the diaper delivery business
BNN Bloomberg
A new hub is dedicated to products for babies and kids.
On Nov. 1, Uber Eats introduced a new delivery category: “Babies and Kids,” for parents in need of emergency diapers and thermometers.
It is the latest in a series of new verticals launched by Uber Technologies Inc. during the pandemic, including the delivery of groceries, prescriptions, alcohol and flowers.
Uber is partnering with national brands including buybuy BABY and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. They are also creating exclusive partnerships with direct-to-consumer companies, like organic baby food brand Yumi.
From June to August, there were more than 20,000 searches for baby supplies on the Uber Eats app including diapers, baby food, and wipes, according to Beryl Sanders, head of partnership for new verticals for the U.S. and Canada for Uber Eats. “We were hearing it internally, too, from a lot of new parents,” Sanders says in a phone interview. “There is often in parenting an immediate need for a product. If your baby is running a fever, you need that thermometer.”
The online baby product industry will generate US$9.9 billion in revenue in 2021, according to Ibis World Inc.
Sanders wouldn’t comment on the specific amount of money the company has dedicated to the category, except to say that a US$200,000 donation to Baby2Baby, which provides necessities to children living in poverty, was Uber’s primary investment in the project.
