Uber has made several changes to its grocery-delivery service designed to help customers save money while also making it more convenient to use, the e-commerce provider announced Thursday.
The enhancements include Fresh Days, a program that provides people who belong to the company’s Uber One membership program with a 30% discount every Tuesday on selected fresh foods, including produce, meats, eggs and dairy products. The company cast the promotion as an answer to rising grocery prices.
Uber Eats — which faces heavy competition in the grocery e-commerce space from rivals including Instacart and DoorDash — also now offers refunds on fresh goods that are spoiled, stale, damaged or past their sell-by date. Customers need to submit a report that includes a photo of the item for which they want their money back within 48 hours after it is delivered, according to the company. Uber added that it will introduce a “Freshness Guarantee” badge next month.
“Freshness and the quality of produce is essential within this market,” Susan Anderson, global head of delivery for Uber, said Sunday during a keynote session at the Groceryshop conference in Las Vegas.
Uber also announced that it has introduced a new feature that lets customers indicate how they want the service to handle out-of-stocks. The platform now uses artificial intelligence to suggest substitutions that reflect factors, such as price, nutrition and order history, and it will soon gain the ability to save people’s preferences.
In addition, customers can make adjustments to the types or quantities items they want until the worker handling their order places the goods in the cart. Uber workers can also share photos of products with customers to allow them to approve changes or request refunds in real time.
Uber also said Thursday that it has started offering delivery from over 2,500 Aldi locations across the U.S. The discount chain is the first food retailer on its platform to accept SNAP benefits as a payment method starting on the first day.
Catherine Douglas Moran contributed reporting.
