Ailyssa Pretorius, general manager for Uber Eats South Africa, says, "Our obsession with customer service and technology has helped us thrive in a highly competitive market, and has helped us become the number one app in the market over the last two years."
According to App Annie, in one year, Uber Eats has gone from serving 500 000 people to more than a million today – a 100% increase.
Uber Eats says it has learned a lot about everything – from cuisine preferences to everyday food needs – such as the fact that 55% of people in South Africa celebrate something with an ice cream or that 68% of South Africans prefer treating themselves to fast food over healthier options.
According to Uber Eats, it has managed to increase its offered selection to provide local residents’ access to more than 2 000 restaurants, providing over 50 000 meal options that are currently available on the app.
This means that consumers can choose from more than 250 restaurants when they open the app.
Uber Eats also aims to provide local residents with a flexible way to earn some extra income, whether to bridge gaps in work or top up their existing income. Uber Eats has created more than 1 500 economic opportunities for delivery partners.
Uber Eats says delivery partners have access to an improved safety feature: a mobile emergency app. The app is powered by Aura’s security technology.
It works by connecting delivery partners and drivers to the closest private response vehicles from a nationwide network of security or medical response partners.
They are also provided with Partner Injury Protection, which will cover them from the moment they accept a delivery request while driving on the way to a restaurant, and until the trip ends.
According to Uber Eats, this is thanks to a partnership with Chubb Insurance South Africa Limited, an authorised financial services provider. Both these offerings are at no cost to the delivery partners.
"It has been an exciting two years. Demand from South African residents and businesses have been amazing, and our delivery partners continue to thrive. All this has made it possible for us to expand to five cities during this period," adds Pretorius.
In addition, Uber Eats aims to continue to localise its service offering through new features such as cash payments on delivery, which meets the specific needs of local residents and businesses. This pilot cash payment option will be rolled out in the coming months.
For more information, visit www.about.ubereats.com. You can also follow Uber Eats on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.