DoorDash AI Accelerates Local Commerce Growth

The tools help merchants onboard faster, manage their video content, enhance their photos, launch branded websites and automate marketing campaigns, the company said in a Monday (May 4) press release.

DoorDash’s new self-serve onboarding experience automatically surfaces details such as photos, store hours and menu items from a merchant’s online presence, so the merchant can simply review and edit the details instead of entering them manually. The experience can help merchants launch 35% faster, according to the release.

The company’s new Video Library helps merchants upload, organize and manage their video content. This tool allows merchants to tag menu items in videos so customers can order directly from what they see, continually refresh their storage page with new content, and track performance metrics.

DoorDash’s new photo editing experience features three AI-powered modes: AI Retouch to improve existing menu photos, AI Replate to match food with appropriate dinnerware and other surroundings, and Match the Style to create images with a style similar to others chosen by the merchant. These three tools make these changes without altering the appearance of the food.

One of the company’s enhancements to its DoorDash Commerce Platform uses AI to turn the menu, branding and images a merchant already has on DoorDash into a branded website for direct ordering. Another enhancement uses AI to automate marketing campaigns around occasions such as Mother’s Day, per the release.

“These new tools reflect our belief that the right technology should remove friction, not add it, so merchants can focus on what they do best: making great food and delivering incredible customer experiences,” Brian Tolkin, head of merchant product at DoorDash, said in the release.

PYMNTS reported in February that DoorDash is evolving from a food delivery app into a broader commerce platform that blends software, advertising, fulfillment and autonomy in an effort to give local businesses the tools to compete with larger digital rivals.

During the company’s fourth quarter earnings call, DoorDash Chief Financial Officer Ravi Inukonda spoke of the company’s investments in owning the software and logistics stack that powers local commerce. “We believe these investments are the right investments, especially as we think about becoming the operating system for local commerce,” Inukonda said.