It will be a grave mistake on the part of analysts as well as business enthusiasts to underestimate the role that Uber Eats can play in propping up Uber’s valuation ahead of its much anticipated IPO. The cab hailing major surely wants to prove through Uber Eats that it is well capable of diversifying into news businesses for monetizing more profits.
This is exactly what seems to have driven Uber Eats to strike partnership with coffee chain major Starbucks. Starbucks will now use Uber Eat’s services for delivering coffee at customer’s doorsteps across U.S. According to reports, both have successfully carried out a pilot program in Miami, following which now Starbucks plans to start delivery services to almost 2,000 US outlets. This is a quarter of 8,500 outlets that the coffee chain major operates across the U.S market.
However, for Uber Eats the challenge of delivering a Starbuck coffee at right temperature may prove to be an uphill task. But Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has expressed confidence in an interview given to a financial daily that their delivery partner will pull off this challenge.
Johnson also said he worked closely with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi for past months to make this partnership into a reality.
A Partnership that will prove win-win for Uber Eats & Starbucks
This partnership will help Starbucks to convey a strong message to investors that it is resorting to new ways in order curtail the slowing domestic growth. It is important to remember that the company has already slashed targets for earnings per share growth over the “longer-term” from at least 12 per cent to at nearly 10 per cent. However, it has kept the guidance for other financial metrics completely unchanged for the current financial year.
Most industry experts also argue that Starbucks’ formidable presence across the international markets will help in compensating for slowing domestic growth.
Uber Eats, on other hand, will expect that this partnership helps in improving its quarterly numbers and also investor’s sentiments. Interestingly, while announcing the third quarter results last month, Uber revealed the numbers of Uber Eats for the very first time to investors.
The third quarter results showed that Uber Eats has more than doubled its gross bookings over the last one year. Uber Eat’s gross booking clocked $2.1bn, an impressive surge of 150 per cent from last year.