Claiming to "surpass Amazon", Uber enters the e-commerce field in a high-profile manner

Recently, Uber CEO Dara K   Hosrowshahi said the company is planning to expand beyond food delivery into retail and seek to " outshine Amazon."

At an industry conference on Tuesday , Khosrowshahi compared Uber 's business to that of Canadian e-commerce company Shopify. "We think of Uber as essentially a localized Shopify -- we can help merchants drive local online commerce, and Uber's audience is very broad around the world , " Khosrowshahi said at the conference.

Uber , headquartered in San Francisco , started out as a ride-hailing platform , similar to Didi, but was forced to transform when the pandemic caused a drop in demand for rides and a surge in demand for goods delivery . Uber has since expanded its business from food delivery to grocery and convenience product delivery .

Khosrowshahi said that even if the mobility business returns to pre -pandemic levels, the delivery business may eventually grow larger than its mobility business . Last year, Uber added 120,000 non -restaurant merchants to its platform. In its core food delivery division, Uber   Driven by Eats, its entire delivery business was profitable in the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to Uber's latest financial report, Uber's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 was US$5.778 billion, a year-on-year increase of 83%. Among them, the mobile travel business revenue was US$2.278 billion, a year-on-year increase of 55%; the food delivery business revenue was US$2.420 billion, a year-on-year increase of 78%; the freight business revenue was US$1.080 billion, a year-on-year increase of 245%.

It can be seen that the revenue from the food delivery business has exceeded Uber’s previous core business, and the freight business is also growing at an astonishing rate.

Khosrowshahi said its retail business would not be very profitable . “We are not going to make money here,” he said. “The growth and profitability from our mobility and food delivery businesses are more than enough to cover our investments in retail. ”

Amazon has long been the leader in the e-commerce field. Uber has announced its entry into the e-commerce industry and claimed to "surpass Amazon". It will take time to see whether Uber 's entry can break Amazon's monopoly or open up a new track in the e-commerce field.

Uber

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E-commerce