DoorDash, the nation’s leading aggregator, has launched a Cash on Delivery option for restaurants using its DoorDash Drive white-label fulfillment tools. This feature enables eateries to accept cash payments on delivery for digital orders, as customers may have paid in the past for call-in orders. This new option was designed to drive restaurant adoption of DoorDash’s white-label offerings.
By offering the Cash on Delivery option, DoorDash enables customers to have the flexibility to pay for their orders in a way that they prefer. This is particularly popular with customers at pizzerias, where consumers select the payment method for nearly one in five transactions at pizzerias.
Ben Smith, Director of Operations Development at Donatos Pizza, commented on the benefits of this new option: “There are countless factors from checkout to delivery that contribute to a seamless at-home pizza experience. Cash on Delivery through DoorDash Drive is one way we’ve maintained this high-quality service our loyal customers expect, as we can grow our business online while still enabling customers to pay with cash should they desire.”
This new feature comes at a time when aggregators are increasingly challenged to step up their white-label capabilities for restaurants, given the far greater popularity of direct ordering channels compared to third-party. Research from PYMNTS’ study, “The 2022 Restaurant Digital Divide: Restaurant Apps And Websites In The Spotlight,” found that 16% of consumers primarily order food via restaurants’ direct ordering channels such as their website or their app. Meanwhile, only half of that share (8%) said they mainly order food via a third-party aggregator.
Aggregators are looking to gain restaurants’ direct ordering loyalty by sweetening the deal with their white-label offerings. Grubhub, for instance, added several features to its Direct white-label platform, including the ability for restaurants to display their websites built with Direct on their Google Search Business Profiles and to list those sites as the preferred online ordering option on Google platforms.
The Cash on Delivery option provides a multibillion-dollar opportunity for DoorDash. Research from PYMNTS’ study “Digital Economy Payments: Going Digital To Pay For Travel And Restaurant Dining” found that 16% of restaurant customers paid for their most recent restaurant purchase in cash, amounting to $8.3 billion in cash spent on restaurant purchases in February 2022 alone.
Moreover, data from the PYMNTS report “How Consumers Perceive Surcharge Prompts,” created in collaboration with Payroc, reveals that cash is disproportionately common for restaurant purchases compared to other kinds of transactions. The study found that only 2% of travel purchases and 13% of retail and grocery purchases were paid for with cash.
DoorDash’s Cash on Delivery option provides customers with greater flexibility to pay for their food orders, enhancing the customer experience. In the competitive food delivery industry, this new feature could help DoorDash gain an edge over its rivals, and may also increase adoption of its white-label offerings.
