As we all witnessed last year, consumer expectations have shifted rapidly and forever, with on-demand commerce now increasingly an essential part of our everyday lives. 

With the growing reliance on e-commerce solutions that are fast, reliable and efficient, businesses are pivoting quickly to meet consumer demand. 

Uber Eats is already helping local partners across the country do that, providing technology to grow their virtual footprint, drive demand for their products and provide solutions to help quickly get their products to customers.

Alongside continuing to invest in the Uber Eats business in Australia we are also revitalising the way we engage with our partners across the Uber Eats platform.

From today we’ve started notifying partners that on March 1 we will make a significant change by moving to a new business model designed to simplify and improve the experience of eaters, delivery people, restaurants and other merchants who use the Uber Eats platform while enabling new and exciting features in the near future across the marketplace.

We’ve listened to our partners and are ready to implement this change that we’ve been working on for over 12 months. 

For Restaurants and other small businesses

For some time, restaurants in Australia have asked us to provide a simpler, more streamlined accounting set-up with less invoices and reconciliations. 

This new model will not alter the marketplace fee but will mean restaurants and other merchants will no longer buy & sell delivery from delivery partners as they have in the past. Instead they will focus on selling their goods to customers and Uber Eats will provide delivery services to that customer. 

This will save partners time as small business owners no longer have to manage accounting for every individual delivery, simplifying their reconciliations and tax calculations and allowing them to focus on growing their business.

For Delivery people

Alongside deepening our investment in Australia across priority areas like safety, customer service and partner experience we’re also committed to helping grow our merchant and end user base – the potential pool from which delivery people can access trips. 

As we make it more compelling for new businesses to join the Uber Eats platform we will also move further into new categories like grocery, pharmacy and top-up shops. We anticipate this will translate into increased demand for delivery services in more areas of the convenience economy – outside of traditionally busy meal times. 

Delivery people can still select when, where and how long they work flexibly within the Uber app but from March 1 they will no longer provide services directly to restaurants and small businesses. Instead they will contract with Uber Eats, and Uber Eats will provide delivery services to customers. 

For Eaters and Riders

On March 1 the Uber and Uber Eats apps will look and feel the same as they did the day before, and while there will be no changes to our mobility offering, the way we structure our Eats business will be very different. 

Uber Eats will now sell delivery services through our platform directly to Eaters. 

While our business model is changing, our commitment to delivering the best delivery experience is not.