DoorDash Retains Lowest-Cost Delivery Position Despite Fee Increases, Wells Fargo Finds

DoorDash (NYSE:DASH) remained the lowest-cost third-party delivery provider in the third quarter, according to a Wells Fargo pricing survey released on Tuesday, despite recording the largest quarterly fee increase among the platforms compared.

The survey found that DoorDash’s total basket costs were approximately 2% below those of Uber (NYSE:UBER) and Instacart, even as its fees increased 3.5% from the second quarter.

Delivery Prices Continue to Converge

Wells Fargo reported that Uber’s fees rose 16% during the third quarter, marking the platform’s second consecutive quarterly increase.

The rise brought Uber’s pricing into line with DoorDash, with both services charging a 16% premium over Instacart, according to the survey’s fee comparison.

Pricing differences between third-party delivery platforms narrowed for a second consecutive quarter.

DoorDash’s basket discount decreased by approximately 2.5 percentage points relative to its competitors. Its discount against Instacart narrowed to 1% from 3.5% in the second quarter, while its discount against Uber declined to 2.5% from 5%.

The survey also identified broad-based basket inflation of 2% across delivery channels during the quarter.

First-Party Delivery Maintains Cost Advantage

The discount offered by first-party delivery services compared with third-party platforms remained approximately 36% in the third quarter.

Wells Fargo attributed the increase in basket prices primarily to 2.2% inflation at the individual product, or SKU, level.

This was partly offset by a 2.4% average decline in fees, with DoorDash recording a 19% quarterly fee reduction in this segment of the survey.

These figures relate to different pricing comparisons within the study and are distinct from the 3.5% increase in DoorDash fees reported in the third-party platform comparison.

In-Store Shopping Price Gap Narrows

The survey also found that total basket costs for in-store purchases increased 4% during the third quarter.

As a result, the discount for shopping in-store rather than using third-party delivery narrowed by approximately two percentage points to 23%.

This marked the third consecutive quarter in which the price difference declined and represented the smallest gap recorded in Wells Fargo’s survey.

The findings indicate that delivery and in-store shopping prices moved closer together during the quarter, although purchasing directly in-store remained less expensive in the baskets examined.

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