In a surprising turn of events, DoorDash, the popular food delivery service, is finding itself in the midst of a legal battle over alleged discriminatory pricing. The company has been hit with a lawsuit filed by Maryland resident Ross Hecox, who claims that iPhone users are being unfairly charged more than their Android counterparts. This perplexing situation revolves around an obscure fee called the “expanded range fee,” which DoorDash conveniently fails to mention on its website, raising concerns about transparency.

The extra fee is also applied to the DashPass subscription service in some cases

According to the lawsuit, iPhone users are bearing the brunt of the expanded range fee more frequently than Android users, often coupled with higher delivery charges. Hecox argues that DoorDash is basing its pricing decisions on the assumption that iPhone users have deeper pockets compared to their Android counterparts. In essence, if users want to avoid paying extra for the privilege of being an iOS user, it seems they are better off placing their order with an Android device.

The lawsuit also claims that DoorDash is slapping an additional fee on orders made through their DashPass subscription service. DashPass is supposed to be a method for savings on delivery and service fees, but this alleged extra charge undermines the very essence of the service.

The lawsuit reveals a frustrating lack of transparency surrounding the expanded range fee. Even customers and Dashers (the hardworking delivery drivers) are left scratching their heads, clueless about the fee’s purpose. It appears that the fee is intended for deliveries outside the usual range, but the lawsuit argues that it’s applied even when the delivery location is just a stone’s throw away from the pickup spot.

Hecox’s lawsuit demands a hefty $1 billion fine against DoorDash for their alleged unfair pricing scheme. Naturally, DoorDash denied these claims, asserting that their fees are adequately disclosed during the customer journey. A DoorDash spokesperson states, “The claims put forward in the amended complaint are baseless and simply without merit. We ensure fees are disclosed throughout the customer experience… Building this trust is essential… We will continue to strive to make our platform work even better for customers and will vigorously fight these allegations.”

As this legal drama unfolds, all eyes are on DoorDash to see how they address these accusations and whether they’ll make any changes to their pricing practices. The outcome of this lawsuit could have far-reaching consequences for the company and the wider food delivery industry, potentially triggering a closer examination of pricing policies across various platforms.

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Xiaomi has just entered into a strategic partnership that will have it sell its products through on-demand delivery service, foodpanda. Now, hundreds of electronic products from the company will be available for purchase on the foodpanda shops in Singapore and Thailand.

For those unaware, foodpanda is currently Asia’s largest food and grocery delivery network outside of China. The brand has now entered into a partnership with the Chinese tech giant and will offer a vast variety of consumer electronic products and appliances for on-demand deliveries in its shops in Singapore and Thailand. Furthermore, the foodpanda application will also be pre loaded in new smartphone from Xiaomi in 10 markets within Asia.

Notably, this marks Xiaomi’s first quick commerce partnership in Asia outside of China. So, you can now purchase hundreds of products like smart devices, audio, mobile accessories, household appliances, and more, which will all be delivered to your doorstep within just 30 minutes. Interestingly, the partnership also marks foodpanda’s move in diversifying and expanding to the non grocery category that will seek to fulfill every need of its customers.

The partnership arrives as more customers in both regions have shift their spending habits to the mobile platforms. foodpanda recorded a whopping 18 fold rise in orders for computers and mobile devices this year, compared to 2020. Additionally, the delivery service has even partnered up with 1,000 electronics stores across Asia in 2021 alone to offer more than 289,000 products from local brands to major tech giants like Huawei, Logitech, Asus, TP Link, Remax, Philips, and more.

According to Abhishek Sahay, Senior Director of New Verticals at foodpanda, “On demand deliveries are increasingly an essential part of people’s everyday lives. Beyond traditional e commerce, brands are now already looking for the next phase of growth — with quick-commerce, foodpanda shops provides a new way for retailers to deliver their products to customers almost instantly, whenever they need it. We’re proud to be Xiaomi’s first quick commerce partner in Asia, helping them connect more instantaneously with their customers in the region.”

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India’s one of the leading food delivery platform Zomato has today announced the acquisition of UberEats’ business in India in an all-stock deal. While the company has not revealed the value of this transaction, report indicates that acquisition of Uber’s food delivery business is at around $350 million.

As a part of this deal, Uber will now get around 9.9 percent stake in Zomato. Also, UberEats, which operates in 41 cities, will now redirect its customers to Zomato. The deal comes days after Zomato raised $150 million funding from existing investor Ant Financial, valuing the company at $3 billion.

While delivery partners associated with UberEats India will on-board Zomato’s fleet, around 245 employees of UberEats will be affected by this deal as they will not be absorbed by Zomato as part of the transaction. However, it is being said that Uber is trying to find ways to absorb them within its business.

With Uber Eats, Zomato will now collectively have a 55 percent share of the food delivery market in India and compete largely with homegrown Swiggy. Zomato currently delivers to over 550 cities across the nation.

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The move to sell UberEats India, which had been in works since months, is aimed at cutting losses at the ride hailing company’s food delivery business that has been a drag on the company’s earnings.

UberEats entered the Indian market in 2017 and scaled business to 41 cities with over 65,000 riders who deliver food from 26,000 restaurant partners. The company, which was once seen as a major competitor to Zomato and Swiggy, started struggling in India’s hyper-competitive market.

With the sale of the food business in India, Uber can now focus on the rides business and driving it towards profitability. Besides cutting losses in India, Uber is now taking a stake in a startup that was valued at $3 billion earlier this month.

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It’s already known that Amazon is planning to launch its own food delivery service in India, however, nothing has materialised so far. But if the new report is to be believed, then the eCommerce giant is all set to launch the service around Diwali.

The report claims that Amazon’s food delivery business will be operational in India around Diwali and the company is expected to invest around $500 million to get the business started to take on the likes of Zomato and Swiggy. While it has not been confirmed with which cities the company will start this new business, we expect it to be limited to select cities initially, most probably with Bangalore.

To undercut competition, the company will reportedly charge lower commission rates to the restaurants. The report cites a restaurant chain owner who claims that they were charged only one-fourth of what other players in field charge. Currently, Swiggy and Zomato — the dominating players in the market charge around 20 percent from restaurants.

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Further, the report adds that Amazon will be adopting Swiggy’s strategy of deploying cloud kitchens that only offer food delivery service and no dine-in facility. Amazon will also start an aggressive hiring process for new delivery agents in order to reduce delivery times. To lure customers, the company is expected to offer reduced pricing and cashback schemes linked with the Amazon Pay wallet.

India’s food delivery market is booming right now and is forecast to be worth $17 billion by 2023. Swiggy, which has raised around $1.3 billion in funding so far, is perhaps the largest player in this segment in India, with a valuation of around $3.3 billion. On the other hand, Zomato has raised around $750 million having valuation of $2 billion.

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(Via)

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