Hidden code in Uber Eats’ Android app reveals the company is experimenting with a subscription model called the Uber Eats Pass that would charge users $9.99/month for unlimited meal delivery.
The feature is not officially launched, though. Rather, it was discovered by Jane Manchun Wong, a Hong Kong-based tech blogger and app researcher known for unearthing yet-to-be released features in major technology products. Wong tipped off TechCrunch, who initially reported the news.
Uber Eats is working on Eats Pass
(What's up with the placeholder texts though 😂) pic.twitter.com/AhhjuJTWe0
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 22, 2019
The monthly subscription would mean a user simply paid a flat $9.99 fee each month instead of the standard 15 percent delivery charge that’s normally added to an order. This is much like the subscription models from Postmates and DoorDash.
We could speculate all day long about when and where the feature will launch, what else it will come with, and all of those other details Uber isn’t yet releasing to the public. But the more important point here seems to be about Uber creating a new value proposition for its customers and in doing so hopefully gaining a more loyal following.
if you order via third-party delivery apps even just a few times per month, depending on the size of the bill, those delivery fees add up pretty quickly. Increasingly, a flat fee would pay for itself for many customers.
At the same time, third-party delivery companies are actually seeing loyalty numbers drop as competition for users increases. If Uber Eats and others can offer enough of a price savings to incentivize users to stick with their platform, it could reverse those lagging loyalty stats.
More and loyal Uber Eats customers could also help Uber overall, whose shares, as of this writing, have dropped below $41 from the company’s share price of $42 two weeks ago, when Uber IPO’d. Uber noted in its S-1 filing in April that 15 million active users received a meal via Uber Eats for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2018. If Uber could convert all those people over to a monthly subscription, that would translate into roughly $150 million in revenue each month on an ongoing basis.
That a big “if” for Uber, but the S-1 documents also said the company plans to expand Uber Eats into new food areas, such as grocery. If that’s indeed the case, working on a subscription model seems a no-brainer, as paying a flat monthly fee to order as many groceries and household goods as needed has long been the most economically feasible road for consumers. And probably the easiest way for Uber to build up a more loyal base, in the long run.