As DoorDash unveils its annual Economic Impact Report, the largest U.S.-based delivery provider is also launching a new initiative to encourage customers to purchase more local goods.
Called A Neighborhood Good in Every Order, the new platform “aims to put DoorDash’s equity front and center, showcasing that on DoorDash, every order placed creates a ripple effect of good in people’s lives, livelihoods and neighborhoods, from creating and sustaining jobs through Dashers and store employees, to keeping small businesses alive in the convenience economy.”
The new campaign will be highlighted in an upcoming marketing and ad campaign that will run across TV, radio and outdoor advertising. Those ad spots will reframe ordinary, everyday orders and show how they empower the entire local community. They will include language explaining “the economic truth of each order,” with the example that ramen, toilet paper and an impulse wine purchase keeps the pharmacy open, while the ramen order helps create local jobs and extra cash for Dashers.
DoorDash intends to continue the campaign through the spring, with a special focus on Chicago, Dallas, LA, Miami, New York and San Francisco.
Diving into its Economic Impact Report, DoorDash said it provided value and economic opportunity to 6.8 million people and supported $68.9 billion in U.S. GDP in 2021—which the company notes is larger than the economies of seven U.S. states.
In addition, 77 percent of surveyed customers said they used DoorDash to try restaurants they would not have otherwise tried, but 77 percent of those customers placed subsequent orders from those same restaurants. Altogether, DoorDash’s platform facilitated 1.39 billion consumer orders across the globe.
A few other notable stats from the report:
- DoorDash facilitated over $25 billion in sales for all restaurant and retail merchants on Marketplace in the US. This contributed to nearly $38.4 billion in US GDP and supported a full-time equivalent workforce of over 488,000 people in 2021.
- Nearly two-thirds of meal deliveries through DoorDash might not otherwise have existed, as 42 percent of consumer survey respondents said that if they could not order delivery they would instead cook at home, and a further 21 percent said they would eat leftovers.
- A majority of merchants say that without DoorDash, their overall revenue (58 percent), new customer growth (52 percent), and revenue growth (51 percent) would have been lower.
- Dashers in the US contributed $18.7 billion to US GDP. In 2021, Dashers in communities of color earned over $5.9 billion and Dashers in low-income communities earned over $4.3 billion.
- Nearly a third (30 percent) of surveyed Dashers nationwide dash to avoid applying for government benefits, such as SNAP (food stamps) and unemployment insurance. This figure was 37 percent among Dashers of color and 44 percent among immigrants. Additionally, 28 percent of Dashers state that dashing helped them avoid taking out payday loans.
- More than one-third (36 percent) of consumers with a disability, mobility issues or a chronic illness have used DoorDash to order necessities for themselves from local retail merchants.
