Tag: On-demand ecomony

Uber’s New API Opens Door For Brands To Engage Drivers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Uber has introduced a new way for brands to reach the growing number of Uber drivers around the world. With the release of Driver API, developers can now better tailor their apps and services for Uber’s 1.5 million and counting drivers. Sears, for example, is rewarding Uber drivers with loyalty points every time they complete a ride so as to incentivize them to shop at Sears locations.

What Brands Should Do
Driver API offers a way for brands to work with developers to tap into driver profiles and trip data and create new apps and services to connect with Uber drivers – a primarily male, multicultural demographic. As Uber continues to grow on a global scale, brands interested in reaching this consumer segment should leverage this API to reach them and integrate their brand into their day-to-day work.

 

Source: Uber Developer on Medium

Uber Launches UberRUSH API For Express Delivery

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Uber continues its push into ecommerce delivery with the launch of a private API of UberRUSH, its on-demand express delivery service. With this new API, retailers such as Nordstrom and 1-800-Flowers can now easily integrate Uber’s one-hour delivery service directly into their digital products to speed up the sales cycle. Other businesses who plan on using this API include fashion rental service Rent the Runway, food delivery businesses like Olo and Eat Street, and logistics operators like Bergen Logistics and Trade Global, which are logistics providers for global retailers like Rebecca Minkoff and Cole Haan.

What Retailers Need To Do
UberRUSH’s API can help retailers, big and small, to drastically decrease the waiting time for shipping and better satisfy the growing consumer demand for instant gratification. Although only available in select cities at the moment, it seems reasonable to assume that Uber will be extending this service to more markets soon. As Uber continues to leverage its fleet of cars to compete with delivery services such as Postmates and Shyp, retail and fashion brands need to consider integrating with such on-demand services to modernize their customer experience.

 

Source: The Verge

Header image courtesy of UberRUSH

Uber To Allow Third-Party Apps To Entertain Riders

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Uber doesn’t want you to get bored during your ride, so it has tweaked its API to allow developers to plug their apps in to serve riders with games, news, and other entertainment content during the ride. Aptly named “Trip Experiences,” this new feature will essentially allow a third-party app, with the user’s permission, to serve up notifications and content via Uber’s app with notifications customized according to the lengths of the rides.

What Brands Need To Do
This marks Uber’s latest move in its continued quest to integrate third-party apps and services into its app via partnerships and deep-linking. Last year, for example, the ride-hailing app partnered with StubHub and Spotify to expand the functionality of its app. For brands, “Trip Experiences” offers a great window to get their content in front of a captive audience in the backseats of Uber cars. However, users will need to give permission before third-party apps can connect to Uber and access their trip details, so brands should be mindful about the content they serve to make sure it adds true value to Uber passengers.

 

Source: The Verge

UberHEALTH And Pager To Push Healthcare Into On-Demand Economy

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Popular ride-hailing app Uber is expanding into new territory as it tested delivering flu-shots on demand. As part of its UberHEALTH project, the company started dispatching flu-shots with its fleet of Uber drivers in 35 cities – including New York, Chicago, and Boston – for 4 hours on Thursday, when “UberHEALTH” was listed as one of the options at the bottom of the Uber app. It offered Uber users a chance to get a wellness pack for $10, and a registered nurse will come along to give flu shots to up to 10 people. The wellness pack included several trinkets, such as a water bottle and hand sanitizer. Earlier this week, Uber announced a new partnership with Practo, an app that lets users in India and some Southeastern Asian markets book medical appointments and request an Uber to travel to them.

What Brands Need To Do
This is not the first time someone has tried to revolutionize the healthcare industry with an on-demand model. Pager, for example, is a mobile-based healthcare service connecting patients with healthcare professionals on demand. Launched in New York City in May, 2014, the startup recently expanded its service to San Francisco and inked a deal with Walgreens to reach more patients through Walgreen’s website. As more and more services become available through on-demand platforms, healthcare and pharmaceutical brands should consider moving into the space to make their services and products more easily accessible and readily available, through either developing their own on-demand services or partnering with existing services.

 

Source: BuzzFeed

Uber Readies Push into E-Commerce Delivery

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Uber is slowly unveiling its plan to enter ecommerce with a strategic partnership with dozens of big retailers and fashion brands, as the on-demand car service tries to establish itself as an express delivery option for shoppers on a wide range of shopping websites and apps. Moreover, Uber has also been reportedly in talks with retail tech companies like Bigcommerce and Shopify, which help small businesses set up online storefronts. The news came just 3 weeks after Uber started testing the UberRush courier service to handle package returns.

What Brands Should Do
Clearly, this new program would offer retailers, big and small, a great opportunity to modernize their customer experience with on-demand service. Its potential partnership with Bigcommerce and Shopify could also establish Uber as an aggregator for small local stores in the brick-and-mortar retail space, similar to the way Amazon provides a platform for independent online vendors, and that is something all retail and fashion brands need to be aware.

 

Source: Re/code

How Warner Bros. Is Promoting Mad Max With Free Uber Rides

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Warner Bros has teamed up with Uber to promote the upcoming launch of its Mad Max video game – and the franchise in general – with free, post-apocalypse-themed rides in Seattle. For a limited time this week, Uber users can opt to hail a Mad Max-themed ride with elaborately costumed drivers for a trip anywhere in downtown area of Seattle.

What Brands Should Do
Although Uber is no stranger to stunt marketing, this new effort marks the first time a media company has tapped the ride-hailing app to provide interested consumers with a branded experience, whereas previously brands mostly teams up with Uber for delivery and logistical solutions.  As Uber expands its reach into new territories such as food delivery and ecommerce, so should brands when it comes to creatively using Uber’s road presence as a marketing asset.

 

Source: The Verge

Header image courtesy of Uber Seattle’s Twitter

 

New Food Delivery Services Push For Prix-Fixe Menu

Posted on by Lab Team

On-demand food delivery has been a growing market in the past few years, and today two new services with prominent backers are giving New Yorkers more reasons not to cook. Uber is leveraging its fleet of roaming cars into UberEats, which officially launched in New York City and Chicago. Similarly, Maple, a startup back by Momofuku founder David Chang, has also launched today in the financial district of Manhattan.

Unlike standard food delivery apps that congregate all delivery options from local restaurants, both new services push for curated, prix-fixe menus instead, aiming to eliminate the hassle of choosing from an overwhelming number of options with uneven food qualities and bloated prices. While Maple utilizes a network of celebrity chefs to create its daily rotating menu, UberEats partners with a series of locally renowned salad and sandwich joints to curate its menu selections.

Audi Launches On-Demand Car Rental Program

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: The Verge

Audi has launched its “Audi on demand” service as a pilot program in San Francisco, which offers daily rentals of a variety of Audi models, ranging from Audi A5 for $200 per day up to an R8 Spyder for $1,285 per day. While the rate is significantly higher than other car rental services like Zipcar, Audi is clearly hoping leverage its brand prestige into capturing the upscale segment of the on-demand car market, much like what its direct competitor BMW is doing with its carsharing program DriveNow.

Moreover, Audi seems committed to building a mobile-first user experience, in which starting, locking, and unlocking the car all takes place through a designated app. It does, however, come with a digital key card as a backup just in case your phone dies.

Amazon Officially Launches Marketplace For On-Demand Service

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch

Back in August last year, we reported that Amazon was starting to tap into the local services market, and now the ecommerce giant has reportedly confirmed the official launch of its Angie’s List competitor, aptly named “Amazon Home Services”, set for next Monday.

With the launch, Amazon is taking a big step to compete in the on-demand economy. Right now most services in the marketplace are focused on providing assembling or placement help for Amazon shoppers following certain purchases, but a promotional video for the site promises that it will eventually offer a wider range of professional services, including “plumbers, auto mechanics, and yoga instructors”.