Uber Eats Adds Shop for Me, Letting Customers Ask for Items From Stores Not on the App

Uber Eats, the food and goods delivery service run by the ride-hailing company Uber, is rolling out a feature that lets customers ask someone to shop in a physical store for them. The feature, called Shop for Me, is arriving in San Francisco, New York City, Phoenix, Dallas and Tampa, Florida, according to WWD.

Uber first presented the feature in April, at its annual Go-Get product event. Its main selling point is reach. Users can request purchases from any store in their area, including shops that do not appear on the Uber Eats app.

Starting an order is simple. A user taps the Shop for Me icon at the top of the app, then names the store and the items they want. They can add details such as colour, price point, fit and size.

A shopper then goes to the store and sends the user photos of what they have found. Nothing is bought until the user approves it. If the user does not reply within five minutes, the order is cancelled.

Once the user approves, the shopper pays the in-store price on the user's behalf and delivers the items to the user's door.

Uber Eats plans to add more cities after the first five. The company has not yet named them. (Hmm)

For anyone who has wanted a specific size from a local shop but could not get there, the model offers a different route. The customer sees the actual items in photos before paying, rather than choosing from a listing on a screen. The trade-off is time: the five-minute window means the customer needs to be ready to reply while the order is in progress.