Delivery apps want to bring fast fashion to your doorstep—literally

Thinking of ordering in tonight, or getting your groceries delivered via an app? Maybe even a last-minute dress or pair of shoes? Well, apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats, both of which have partnered with several fashion brands over the past year, are hoping they can serve all of those needs within minutes.

DoorDash, which has joined forces with the likes of Steve Madden, Rally House, and Urban Outfitters, among many other fashion retailers in the last several months, said it’s part of the company’s founding vision to connect “everything in the neighborhood to the consumer.”

“Those principles are really around speed, affordability, convenience,” Mike Goldblatt, VP of enterprise sales and business development at DoorDash, told Retail Brew.

The platform now offers more than 500,000 retail items nationwide, as it continues building out its apparel and fashion categories. Still, the obvious question remains: Who really needs a last-minute pair of pants?

“The use cases are pretty wide-ranging, and so sometimes it’s an urgent need, like a new pair of pants; sometimes it’s a more planned purchase for a party,” Goldberg said.

The need for speed: Speed is part of the appeal. Deliveries that arrive within 30–45 minutes can serve urgent needs, while the delivery network can also handle more considered orders placed ahead of events.

John Harmon, CFA and managing director of technology research at Coresight Research, told Retail Brew it is all part of a broader “flywheel effect” already present across e-commerce platforms.

“You already could do retail shopping on DoorDash and Uber anyway,” he said. “The more volume they do, the more efficient they become, the lower their shipping costs become, the quicker they’re able to ship items.”

And efficiency simply drives customers to buy more volume. “It’s a virtuous circle,” Harmon said, adding that it also helps consumers view such platforms as not just a delivery service but a “shopping portal.”

As for the brands, adding a last-mile delivery partner along with their own e-commerce business means more sales.

DoorDash says partnerships with retailers have helped bring new customers to the platform.

“We’re the largest platform in North America [with] 56 million monthly active customers at this point,” Goldblatt said, noting that 30% of its customers shop for items outside of restaurant delivery.

“We just firmly believe that any retailer that joins the marketplace is going to benefit from meaningful incremental sales that they otherwise wouldn’t get,” he said.

Ultimately, the arrangement could prove a win-win for both retailers and delivery platforms, especially if apparel purchases start boosting average basket sizes.

“Consumers shop in a variety of channels: Some go to the store, some use the app, some use the website and some go to social media,” Harmon said. “This is just another place to have a presence where consumers might be.”