Cargo, Uber’s exclusive provider of in-car snacks and other items, announced today it has partnered with Hershey to add some Easter-themed goodies to your next car trip. Starting today, passengers riding in Uber vehicles equipped with Cargo Boxes can grab samples or purchase treats from various Hershey brands, including Reese’s and Cadbury eggs.
Cargo equips rideshare vehicles with boxes full of things like energy bars, Advil, bottled water, and even peel-off face masks. It’s like someone crammed an airport newsstand inside an Uber vehicle and digitized the transaction process. To use the service, all you have to do is log into the Cargo app, scan a QR code on the Cargo Box or punch in the driver’s Box number, and select the items you want from a digital shopping cart. All payments are processed via the app, and once that step is done, the driver takes purchased items from the box and hands them over.
Adding Easter-themed items for purchase (and some free samples, to boot), isn’t an arbitrary move on the part of either Hershey’s or Cargo. Easter is the second-biggest holiday in the U.S. for chocolate sales. At the same time, the 35-and-under age group “say they plan on celebrating Easter and are the only age group that’s seen a consistent increase in those celebrating compared with a decade ago.” In other words, Millennials and Gen Z are target consumers for chocolate eggs and rabbits.
And where better to reach them than in transit? Armed with smartphones, these “digitally fluent” consumers are known for shopping across channels, meaning they’ll purchase in-store, online, and, increasingly, on the go. As one report put it, “technology must drive the shopping experience,” particularly for Gen Z.
Cargo’s digital-vending-machine-on-wheels model is tailor-made for this sort of shopper. Plus, given Millennial and Gen Z’s apparent affinity for Easter, the week leading up to the holiday makes sense as the time when Hershey’s would pilot this campaign.
Cargo and Uber announced their exclusive partnership in 2018, and the service raised $22.5 million in the same year.