DoorDash brings grocery shopping to ChatGPT in AI integration rivaling Instacart

DoorDash brings grocery shopping to ChatGPT, rivaling Instacart

DoorDash Inc. is launching a grocery shopping feature within ChatGPT as part of a planned partnership with OpenAI, just a week after rival Instacart announced a similar tool. With the integration, consumers can ask the artificial intelligence-powered assistant for meal or recipe suggestions, and to add the ingredients into a grocery shopping list, with the help of a plug-in. When they're ready to check out, users will be redirected to DoorDash's own app to make any changes before completing the purchase. DoorDash, the largest restaurant delivery service by market share in the US, is starting with grocery shopping within ChatGPT -- rather than its core takeout service -- as recipe inspiration and planning is "one of the top uses of ChatGPT," according to a DoorDash spokesperson. This partnership "is designed to meet consumers where they're already shopping, giving them the ability to use ChatGPT to create orders on DoorDash, an experience we believe will expand our overall opportunity," the spokesperson said. The company plans to expand the integration beyond groceries in the future after it assesses where it can add value to users' AI chat experience, the representative added. Grocery delivery is a fast-growing area where DoorDash has been investing in recent years, as it expands beyond restaurant delivery to challenge rivals Instacart and Uber Technologies Inc. Grocery and other non-restaurant orders like retail goods made up about 17% of DoorDash's observed sales through the third quarter, up from 12% in early 2023, according to Bloomberg data analyst Mike Ryan. In October, OpenAI said it would let app developers create versions of their products within ChatGPT so that the AI assistant can complete more tasks for users. DoorDash and Uber were among the nearly 20 partner brands named as part of that announcement, meaning they have or will make some of their product features available within the chatbot this year. DoorDash's formal debut on the platform comes just a week after Instacart introduced a similar capability. But Instacart's ChatGPT integration goes further in that users can also complete their purchase within the chat. The differences in how DoorDash, Instacart and other brands integrate with ChatGPT underscore a shift in how customers search for and use services online. DoorDash has previously embedded order buttons inside external platforms such as Google and Yelp and has "continued to grow faster and at larger scale" after each partnership, the spokesperson said. When asked about its decision to keep the checkout process on the DoorDash app rather than add it to ChatGPT, the DoorDash spokesperson said "no single channel monopolizes customer attention" and that "a channel would have to replicate all of our end-to-end functionality to fully serve" users. "What makes DoorDash valuable is not where you place an order, but the end-to-end experience, including reviews, personalization, real-world fulfillment and support," the spokesperson added. Separately this week, DoorDash said it's experimenting with a stand-alone AI-powered social app to help find restaurants. The new product, called Zesty, began public testing on Monday in New York and San Francisco.

DoorDash Integrates App With OpenAI's ChatGPT to Facilitate Grocery Shopping | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. This experience is enabled by the new DoorDash app in ChatGPT, the companies said in a Wednesday (Dec. 17) press release. The DoorDash app in ChatGPT is live for select users and will expand to all customers within weeks, according to the release. To launch this new experience, users enable DoorDash in ChatGPT, ask the chatbot for meal or recipe suggestions, ask it to shop for the ingredients using the DoorDash app, and then open the cart in the DoorDash app and complete the purchase, per the release. DoorDash plans to expand this integration to other local categories beyond groceries, the release said. "AI is unlocking an entirely new search and discovery experience for consumers that's dynamic and personalized," DoorDash Co-Founder Andy Fang said in the release. "We're thrilled to partner with OpenAI to create a seamless experience that allows users to quickly order ingredients for any recipe and check out directly on DoorDash." Nick Turley, vice president, head of ChatGPT at OpenAI, said in the release: "The DoorDash app in ChatGPT is another step toward bringing our vision to life -- where AI connects directly to real-world services, saving people time and effort in their everyday lives." OpenAI announced in October that users could chat with several third-party apps while in conversation with ChatGPT, thanks to a feature called Apps in ChatGPT and an Apps SDK for developers that enables them to build these kinds of apps. "The magic of this new generation of apps in ChatGPT is how they blend familiar interactive elements -- like maps, playlists and presentations -- with new ways of interacting through conversation," OpenAI said at the time in a press release.