EXCLUSIVE Q&A: DoorDash aids customers and retailers with engagement
DoorDash views customer engagement as an important tool to maximize the benefits of its platform for both shoppers and retail partners.
Mike Goldblatt, VP, grocery & retail partnerships, DoorDash, met with Chain Store Age at the recent Shoptalk 2025 conference in Las Vegas to discuss the importance of customer engagement to DoorDash’s broader enterprise operation.
DoorDash has more than 115,000 non-restaurant stores on its marketplace in North America, including beauty, retail and grocery stores.
What is DoorDash’s customer engagement strategy?
There are three core components to the business for DoorDash. One is selection, making sure that the customer has the opportunity to engage in all of our product categories and get effectively whatever they need from their local neighborhood store on DoorDash.
The second is affordability, making sure that the prices are as competitive and as low as possible. And the last is reliability, meaning if you order something, we want to make sure you get it delivered.
How does DoorDash support customer engagement with technology?
DoorDash spends a lot of time on the technology side making sure all of this happens. Substitutions are a big part of the equation. We make sure if you're engaging in the app and you're buying from Walgreens, that we know what your substitutions are in advance.
And if those aren't available, a dasher (DoorDash's term for contract employees that shop for and deliver customer orders) will engage with you and make sure you get what you want.
In addition, customers will see things like out-of-stock badging. DoorDash does a lot of work to understand if something is going to be in the store or if we don't think it's in the store. The customer will if we think a product is likely out-of-stock, to give them the understanding that they can trust that we're going to deliver what they need.
The last thing is, we just do it super-fast. The customer will get their order.
What kind of loyalty benefits does DoorDash offer?
Loyalty is a huge part of our strategy. For instance, if you engage in the app for Sephora, you will see the Sephora loyalty program featured very prominently in the experience. That gives the retailer an understanding of what's happening on DoorDash from a sales point of view and gives the customer value through the retailer’s loyalty discounts, deals and offers.
And then on DoorDash specifically, we offer our own DashPass loyalty program that lets high-value, high-frequency customers obtain value from benefits like free delivery and reduced service fees, as well as benefits from partners such as Lyft and Max.
Will DoorDash continue offering seasonal promotions?
Summer DashPass is one of our major tentpole initiatives, and we will invest and engage in Summer DashPass again this year. Our Valentine's Day push this year was our biggest day ever in grocery and retail. We delivered 350,000 floral bouquets.
[READ MORE: Seasonal membership promotion returns to DoorDash]
Are there other new customer-facing initiatives?
In December, we launched item-first search for alcohol. For example, a customer searching for a bottle of Merlot from a specific brand can discover exactly where they can find it, how much it costs and if there' is availability.
This is a major investment area for us. Alcohol is a growing category for DoorDash and roughly 40% of the alcoholic beverage retailers on our platform are ‘mom and pop’ liquor stores really benefiting from our tools and technology.
