Meta is working with courier marketplace DoorDash to offer quick delivery of items listed on Facebook Marketplace.
The service works for items that can fit in the trunk of a car, and promises delivery within 48 hours to recipients in a 15-mile radius, the Wall Street Journal reported. Meta confirmed to the AIM Group that the service was recently launched in several U.S. cities, although terms of the firm’s agreement with DoorDash were not disclosed.
For Meta, the motivation was to appeal to younger users, who tend toward TikTok rather than Facebook, someone familiar with the deal told the Journal. Marketplace is one part of the platform that Millennials and Gen Z’s use, and Meta hopes same-market delivery will attract more of them.
DoorDash, whose core business is food delivery, sees it as a way to pad out business with deliveries of alcohol, drugstore items and other goods during off-peak hours, i.e. lunch and dinner.
The Meta-DoorDash deal is similar to a service offered by general goods app Mercari that dates from the early Pandemic. First piloted in San Francisco and rolled out nationwide in July 2021, Mercari Local offers delivery between sellers and buyers located in the same city.
Mercari Local started with same-day delivery of small items and a single logistics provider: Uber.
These days, the company works with several delivery firms – including DoorDash and FedEx – and the service is available for items as big as a sofa. Rates start at $10.99 and run up to $199 for the largest items.
Mercari doesn’t break out financial results for the service, but has credited it partially for its doubling of active users over the last two years.