[00:00:00] Welcome to Unpacking the Digital Shelf, APAC Edition, where we explore the unique challenges and opportunities shaping digital commerce across Asia-Pacific, with insights from the region's top experts.
[00:00:13] Hello and welcome back to Unpacking the Digital Shelf, the APAC Edition. Today we're diving into one of the fastest growing channels in Australian retail, Quick Commerce.
[00:00:34] What started as a way to order dinner has evolved into something much, much bigger. Shoppers are now buying everything from groceries and beauty products to hardware and home essentials and expecting it all to arrive in minutes, not days. Our latest Inside Digital and Ecommerce report found that quick commerce and rapid delivery are becoming increasingly important for both brands and retailers alike, as they tap into shoppers' insatiable demand for convenience and need-it-now shopping missions.
[00:01:02] Today we're unpacking how retailers are embracing quick commerce and rapid delivery as part of their omni-channel strategy, and what separates the brands winning in this space from those still sitting on the sidelines. Joining me today is somebody at the centre of this market shift. Matt McGinley is the Head of CPG and Retail for Uber Australia across Australia and New Zealand.
[00:01:26] He works with some of the region's largest CPG and retail brands, helping them connect with high-intent shoppers through Uber's rapidly growing retail media ecosystem. With more than a decade of experience across retail media, digital advertising and strategic partnerships, Matt has a front row seat to how shopper behaviour is changing and how brands are adapting. Matt, welcome to the pod. I'm really, really excited for this discussion. Thanks, Marina. Happy to be here. Yeah, excited.
[00:01:56] It's going to be a good one. All right, so let's dive in. We've got a stack of content to unpack. So, Matt, let's start with the shopper because ultimately that's what's driving all of this change. Convenience isn't a new concept, but it certainly feels like customer expectations have shifted quite dramatically in our local market over the past couple of years. Yeah, definitely. And I think you're absolutely right. And I think you're absolutely right. Convenience and that expectation of convenience has shifted.
[00:02:25] And I'll give you an example, right? In my own sort of personal experience, like, you know, about what many, many years ago, like it was Friday night. You've just ordered takeaway. You had to go to the actual restaurant to pick up that takeaway. Where I lived as a kid, there was a video easy across the road. We would often go in store and pick your overnights and your weeklies to enjoy with your meal. Great experience. You know, that sort of certainly that in store experience was phenomenal. All of that happens now in seconds and a few taps of a button.
[00:02:52] And so that expectation of what was once, you know, sort of a time, you know, baked into that can happen in quite literally a tap of a button, right? So we're seeing that expectation shift rapidly and consumers are expecting that time to be given back to them now in their daily rhythms. And we're seeing this play out across three areas, right? And sort of evolve across three areas, I should say. The first thing about is around this theme of frictionless living is becoming this baseline expectation.
[00:03:22] You know, consumers no longer see convenience as a premium offering. They see it as table stakes. They see it as a baseline expectation of their daily lives. So platforms like Uber have almost normalized this seamless, you know, experience, creating new benchmarks for where anything less than that feels like a compromise. Like, you know, if an Uber is longer than 10 minutes to arrive at your destination, you feel uneasy. So when we get it wrong as well, it's certainly there.
[00:03:48] But frictionless e-commerce payment processes are now the number one concern for at least half of global consumers. So it's definitely a common theme that is driving that. I guess the second thing is emotional outsourcing and decision relief. This is a big one, right? Because quick commerce is not just about speed anymore. It was always seen as that treat yourself once a week, take away a meal, you know, and a luxury. But it now is that baseline expectation, as I mentioned. And it's becoming more and more about decision relief.
[00:04:17] You know, being in control of your life is the top marker of success for Australians. Yet they paradoxically feel more out of control than ever, right? And so we're increasingly seeing outsourcing this, you know, the small everyday choices that sap mental energy, dinner, groceries, household staples are no longer decisions to, you know, agonize over as an example. That one definitely speaks to me.
[00:04:42] That cognitive load and that load, do it for me, make it easy, allow me to be able to do something closer to the point where I need it done without me needing to think ahead. Yeah. It makes sense with the busy lives, particularly with that millennial cohort and Gen Z cohort, which I assume are some of the biggest kind of adopters of this quick commerce trend. Absolutely.
[00:05:12] And over 70% of our audience falls into that millennial and Gen Z bucket, right? And their sort of habitual nature of the platform is there's a lot of repetition once they use it once. And certainly in the retail side, they're more likely to continue using that feature. And then look, the last area and you kind of sort of hit the nail on the head there is that curated convenience is now the norm. You know, consumers are living in an era of hyper-personalization, right?
[00:05:37] So they expect brands to anticipate what they need, show up in those convenient moments and services. And look, research says that, you know, 72% of customers show an appetite for one super app, right, to streamline and consolidate that mobile commerce experience. But it's interesting, right?
[00:05:55] Because quick commerce, you know, it was always talked about speed, but it's now becoming less and less about the actual purchase itself and more that relief and time back being represented in those baskets and items and brands at the forefront and retailers as well. Yeah, the job to be done for the shopper is, I mean, there's the functional job of what I need or need now. But that higher order job to be done is give me my time back. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Okay.
[00:06:24] So one of the biggest shifts we've seen is that quick commerce is no longer just about takeaway and grocery, right? We've talked a little bit about the baskets and the behaviors that you're seeing on the platform. But consumers are now ordering everything from beauty products to hardware. What's driving that expansion? And what does that tell us about how consumer expectations are changing? Yeah, look, what it tells us is that convenience is now a competitive edge, right?
[00:06:51] So if you're a retailer partner, if you're a brand that is looking at this space and looking at convenience as, you know, being that premium area to explore in the past, it's now, again, that baseline expectation, but it's also a competitive edge if done correctly. And, you know, there's value in that challenge being given to consumers. So, like, consumers expect and prefer real-time convenience from brands, not just for dinner across, you know, a dynamic range of categories and products,
[00:07:19] but categories are expanding because consumer mindsets have expanded. And if it can be delivered, it should be in some regards, right? And, look, as an example, we're certainly seeing, as you mentioned, like, categories like personal care and pet, you know, pet care up significantly year over year, you know, to the degree of almost 70% to 80%. Wow. And earlier this year, we sold our first lawnmower in Bunnings on Uber Eats, right?
[00:07:44] So that's an interesting shopper mission to think about what went into that decision mindset. Somewhere a lawn wasn't mowed that was promised to be, you know, there's something around that. And, look, it's quite humorous to think about, but that is also representing the new missions that are popping up as a result of our channel and speed at the forefront of that as well.
[00:08:06] And I would assume that the more retailers that are partnering with Uber, the more that diversifies its range across a greater array of categories. And so that creates a bit of a flywheel in itself with respect to shoppers then going to Uber as a go-to platform to buy and satisfy more of their needs. Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:08:31] They're coming to our platform now to, you know, fit into their daily rhythms of life as opposed to that historical need on the platform. And that subscription-based approach, which Uber deploys like Amazon and the line, it makes sense to maximise the value as a subscriber to the platform. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:08:55] Like we see certainly our Uber One subscribers making up a healthy lion's share of their retail customer base and certainly, you know, increasing in basket size and, you know, average units per order, orders per store, things of that nature. And that flywheel is certainly taking place there. Yeah. So we've seen a wave of new partnerships established over the past 12 to 18 months locally. It's something we've been monitoring at Arctic Fox between retailers and quick commerce platforms like Uber.
[00:09:25] I'd like to dig into that with you in a bit more detail because there are some really different approaches retailers are taking to partnering. It's not really one-size-fits-all for what we're seeing. So what does partnering look like for retailers in this space? You know, it's a great question. And it's something that we take obviously seriously, but like we like to think of ourselves as an embedded channel, right? Certainly with the retailer partners that we have on the marketplace.
[00:09:53] A couple of things that come to mind, like retail motivation, like, you know, convenience as an omni-channel strategy pillar of their business. If retailers are integrating quick commerce as not just a delivery play, right? But as a way to reinforce, I guess, relevance across their entire shopper journey, both physical and mental availability at the forefront there. And quick commerce, you know, lets them show up in those precise moments of need across multiple occasions.
[00:10:20] So it's unlocking true incremental customers and missions for them to explore. I think like, you know, a big sort of, you know, example of this is, you know, last year we recognised that for many Aussies on the platform, their Coles shop delivered through a release app is no longer about an occasional convenience, but again, part of that rhythm of everyday life. And so, you know, our partnership this year with Coles or towards the end of last year, rather,
[00:10:46] provided Australians with greater value, convenience and I guess choice by providing ultimately the largest selection of groceries ever available on an on-demand delivery platform in Australia. So we actually increased that footprint by 50% to 17,000 SKUs and very quickly extended into retail media, providing, you know, suppliers more premium opportunities and formats to, you know,
[00:11:10] show up across the homepage, the Coles storefront and to reach, you know, highly engaged and ultimately incremental shoppers for that retailer. And it's important. I think everything that you're unpacking, it's interesting if you're thinking about it as a retailer, how do I partner? With the brands of Uber. But equally as a brand, it's interesting and important for brands to understand, well, how are retailers partnering? You talked about the shop fronts that exist within the Uber platform for Coles.
[00:11:41] You know, understanding how the retailer is partnering then means what do I need to think about in terms of the conversations I'm having with the retailer in order to drive discoverability within certain categories or product lines and maximize my presence on shelf in those big commerce environments. Yeah, definitely. And it's a joint discussion or it should be an ambition to have it as a joint discussion really that we see that value playing out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:10] It's a really, really interesting space. And it makes sense. I mean, the reality is if I can get what I need now through platforms like Uber and DoorDash, then as, you know, shoppers are moving and engaging into retail environments, they expect those same options to be available as shoppers start to engage with their, you know, 1P delivery, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:12:35] So it makes sense seeing these different models evolve in market in different ways that Uber's partnering both on platform and as a 1P kind of do. Yeah, certainly. Certainly. And some of our retailer partners are, you know, looking at our fulfillment mechanism and logistics back end for that reason. Like we are partnering and integrating directly into the Uber Eats marketplace, certainly. But, you know, others are just using that third party logistics, you know, back end to power their 1P channels.
[00:13:04] And we're seeing some, you know, phenomenal success at the back of that as they'd start to bring in more rapid delivery on their own tech and their own marketplaces, certainly. Which means the ability to build that capability for certain retailers and how capital intensive it is. It makes sense that you're seeing kind of growth across both marketplace and into 1P. Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:13:27] Look, I think the last thing I'll say here is like what really sets retailers apart who win are those that are treating our channel and quick commerce as a strategic channel, right? You know, investing, as you said, in ranging and assortment and digital shelf presence and joint marketing initiatives to drive the value across all of that. But these retailers, they outperform those who treat it as a bolt-on or treat it as a silo channel, you know.
[00:13:54] And so the platform then rewards those who show it consistently, who optimize listings, strong product imagery as an example, and relevant promotions. We see value playing out a lot across the platform. So it really requires the retailer to evolve their operating model, like you say, giving, you know, it's about always on. It's not set and forget. It's not set the platform up, plug and play and off we go.
[00:14:21] Decisions around ranging are an evolution, I would assume. Absolutely. What's not how we're optimizing that range and assortment, potentially expanding over time, but equally how we merchandising and trading on the platform is critical to drive success as a retailer within the marketplace, which makes sense. It's another digital shelf that is managed at a strategic level for the organization. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay.
[00:14:49] So how do you expect the convenience ecosystem to then continue evolving over the next few years? You know, we've, as I said, we've seen a number of retail partnerships form over the last 12 to 18 months. And I feel like it's accelerating in market. It's definitely having its moment. So how do you see it evolving over the next few years? And what does that mean for retailers and how they partner with players like yourselves? Yeah.
[00:15:17] Look, we, as I said as well, like we see quick commerce evolving from a delivery service to an embedded retail channel. Um, we're already seeing the shift from impulse to intention consumers supplementing their planned grocery runs via quick commerce. I guess as that flywheel grows, platforms like Uber Eats become increasingly essential infrastructure for CPG brands, not just a nice to have and as well as for retailers alike.
[00:15:44] Um, I think obviously the role of AI and agentic commerce will play a significant role in not just our lives, but in certainly in this space, given that the need is satisfied and fulfilled in seconds and minutes. And so AI will increasingly personalize the shopping experience, you know, naturally, I guess the anticipatory need state will become very interesting of how AI can influence, influence that. You know, where AI can make purchases on behalf of customers.
[00:16:12] It'll, it'll raise the stakes for, for brand discoverability and digital shelf positioning, right? And, and I guess brands that are well positioned today with strong product data, content, you know, platform presence will, you know, will benefit as AI, you know, shapes how recommendations and purchases are made. I guess quick, quick commerce is not just about the now, right?
[00:16:32] It's about building that brand equity for the future and over the long term, which is where AI will sort of, you know, bake that into its recommendation engine and, and, and powerful, powerful mechanism there. I think you can't have a conversation at the moment without talking about product content in the context of AI and agentic commerce and just how important it is. It's, it's gone from a poor cousin to customer data within brands and retailers to a vital strategic asset overnight.
[00:16:59] For, for brands that are working with retailers and sharing their product content with retailers, is that enough? Or do they need to be thinking about how am I showing up on the Uber platform and how do I get better product data to Uber to support the retailer in that process? Is it, is it a, and the reason I asked the question is I'm having conversations with brands all of the time and we'll talk about quick commerce and the conversation will be, oh yeah, the retailer is kind of managing that for me.
[00:17:29] I'm, I'm done. It's not that simple. So, you know, how, how do brands need to ensure that they're showing up effectively from a product content point of view on Uber? Yeah, it's a great question. And it's something that always comes up in almost the first conversations that we have with, with, with brands where we are integrated with, you know, all the major content service providers, right? Your, your, your social fires, your skew advantages of, of the world.
[00:17:52] So we work, you know, extensively, extensively with those platforms to, to ensure that we're showing up in the right way or the brands are showing up in the, in the right way. So that would, you know, definitely rely on, on that as a step one, as well as working with us to work with obviously retailers as well to, you know, meet in the middle in, in some regards of, you know, showing up in the best way possible for a brand with, you know, lifestyle imagery, as opposed to just, you know, the stock standard product, product imagery, the right description, things of that nature are paramount.
[00:18:21] And we've got the right tools, I think, to, to really power that for sure. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Because the, the way that the product shows up on shelf on Uber is different to the retail. Definitely. And I think as well, like the way the product shows up in certain moments across the app is also equally, if not, you know, the same sort of powerful lever for, for brands to sort of drive growth. And we, we've, we've talked about that sort of flywheel effect, right? Of, of ensuring all of these things are sort of speaking harmoniously to each other.
[00:18:48] We, we, we see our super app, you know, trajectory playing out or helping brands play out there. An interesting stat here is roughly about 30% of first time Uber Eats delivery customers. So that's someone who's using Uber Eats for the first time. 30% of those times actually come from an experience someone has had in the Uber mobility app. Yes. Right.
[00:19:10] So it's that, almost like gateway to, but it's good to be able to have that quantified in terms of, you know, where is that audience coming from? Definitely. So it's almost like a new channel acquisition, both for us, but also for brands and, and, and retailers. And certainly as we grow the use cases in not just marketplace, but, but rides, we'll be starting to see that play out in the future as well. Mm. Mm. So we've, we've started talking a bit about brands. So I want to dig into a little bit more about what brands need to be thinking about.
[00:19:41] So many of them are trying to determine, you know, and we see this in the work that we do, determine how quick commerce fits into their broader commerce strategy. And so if you're a brand today, how should you be thinking about quick commerce as part of that broader commerce and, and omni-channel strategy? Yeah. So it's interesting. So I started my career out in mobile advertising, um, out in Mobi, um, almost 15 years ago.
[00:20:09] And I, I see a very similar approach now of how brands are taking and looking at our channel in quick commerce to what they were looking at in, in mobile, which was the shining toy at one stage. You know, mobile started as a silo. It started as a single channel to explore and then very quickly became an embedded, you know, behavior in all of digital. Mm. I see that playing out now. And certainly the brands that are leaning in are recognizing that, that quick commerce is not a separate channel.
[00:20:36] It's a strategic layer across their entire commerce ecosystem, given the, you know, the rapid rise in additional moments. You know, it intersects that physical, you know, retail driving trial and top up between major shops, digital commerce, reaching high intent customers, obviously at the point of purchase and brand building, you know, creating consistent touch points. That drive that recall and loyalty. It's like, you know, the funnel has collapsed, right?
[00:21:02] We're seeing media that now needs to both create and fill, fulfill demand in that same moment, which is when done correctly with value and relevance is incredibly powerful when brands get it, get it right. Matt, it's really interesting as you're talking, it's making me think. It's not uncommon that silos form in organizations and see pet projects pop up.
[00:21:27] You know, you have somebody who's very attuned to what is happening within the market and they might be flying that quick commerce flag, but their senior leaders above them may not understand just how important this is. So they're kind of, you know, they're starting to build some momentum behind it, but it's a project that they might be doing on the side of their desk because it hasn't, you know, strategically, the organization hasn't really quite caught up yet with respect to how important it is.
[00:21:56] And so that's what it sounds like I'm hearing in terms of where we are at as a market. I mean, you'll have some categories where it's more mature, you see that the thinking is more mature and you have some categories where the thinking is less mature. Is that fair to say within the local market? I'd say definitely.
[00:22:18] And a handful of people come to mind at suppliers, as you're saying, they're almost sort of champions within their business that are striving this initiative. You know, some are more lent in, obviously, than others. I think certainly there are certainly more categories that are lent in than others given the size and scale of their business on our platform relative to other sort of emerging categories. I think my advice there would be to just be curious about what this opportunity represents.
[00:22:46] Look at the growth that the channel has experienced over the last three to sort of four years and the rise of just online grocery, obviously, but the rise of quick commerce and how that's powering, you know, a lion's share of the growth in online grocery. Yes. And then try to understand those pockets of growth of where we, you know, focus the energy and time on. But be curious to that because I think in the next three years when it becomes even more of a norm for the Australian population to use throughout their daily life.
[00:23:15] You know, it's the brands that act now, obviously, that, you know, play into that space, create that repetition, you know, latch on to that habitual nature that are quite powerful to sort of evolve with. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the question brands need to start grappling with is can we afford to not be there and visible based on the size and scale of the audience? Yeah. Yeah. And it's almost like the opportunity cost, right?
[00:23:39] What's that at risk of not acting here given the, you know, the increase in planned and new spontaneous missions that are appearing as a result of this audience that I'm actively going after. And now there's so many new occasions that I can reach them in moments that matter to them as opposed to the weekly in-store shop, right?
[00:24:03] And so, you know, shoppers, they're now using this quick commerce channel for everything that, you know, from routine top-up shops to those last-minute needs. And so, the grocery presence can span both, you know, which means ensuring core SKUs are available and promoted consistently while also activating around contextual moments and occasions. So, sort of, you know, recognising that sort of opportunity from a broad perspective across your audience is definitely key there.
[00:24:31] But mindset here is important with respect to we're not going to start on the platform and it's automatically going to deliver 20% of our sales. No. And I say that openly largely because too often the decision about if we invest and how much we invest will be on the basis of, well, what portion of sales is it going to deliver commercially for us?
[00:25:00] And that will dictate or determine how much time and investment focus this is going to get. When the way that we need to be thinking about it as a channel from a quick commerce perspective is it plays a different role within the mix. Yeah. And it's enabling us to potentially reach an incremental audience that we may not be reaching currently.
[00:25:23] And what does that do to support our overall growth strategy at a category level or within certain ranges within our portfolio? Is that fair to say? Absolutely. And it's actually, you've hit the nail on the head there around some suppliers are looking at our channel of reaching their next generation of customer. Right? So, they're looking at very closely new to brand acquisition on that platform.
[00:25:49] And we're seeing the flywheel bring in new to retail customers every day. So, they're looking at our channel as like an incremental customer base that they otherwise could not have reached before. Absolutely. But focusing on those new to brand metrics that are just playing into their own flywheel as a business of growing total pie. So, whilst we may be relative to, you know, traditional retailer channels, certainly, you know, on the smaller scale, it's about, you know, are we growing the total pie?
[00:26:18] And by all accounts, speaking to our suppliers and retailers alike, we're certainly doing that. Yeah, absolutely. I had a dollar for every client I went to see that said we need to, you know, one of our key strategic objectives is to reach the next generation of shoppers. It's on a slide everywhere. Yeah. And so, it's about acquisition and it's about trial. It may not be about volume initially. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:26:45] If I could sort of give some advice to sort of brands that are sort of, you know, starting out here. Like, I would sort of simplify it. Like, identify who your target audience is. What are their missions and moments? Obviously, we can help identify some of that for them. And then activating specifically where we can predict where pockets of growth will come from. Like, so, for example, you know, and many brands, if young families are a bullseye audience, you're wanting to grow market share within.
[00:27:14] The new missions may be as they're commuting home on a cold winter evening in the back of an Uber or, you know, thinking about the busy weekend ahead, a bit busy week ahead rather on Sunday night. But, you know, these missions, they represent an opportunity for a brand to remove friction, giving time back. And if you do that correctly and with value and relevance between commerce and context, it's an incredibly powerful mechanism for sustained growth over the long term, which is what we see.
[00:27:42] And that's the power of the network, Uber as a whole, because you are able to tap into broader moments versus just a grocery shopping mission. You just talked then about I'm in the back of it, you know, going from point A to point B. And that's where some of these moments start because I've got some idle time where I need to achieve something. Yeah, absolutely. Off my life admin list.
[00:28:12] So, yeah, that's great. And so when you look across the brands you're working with, what separates those that are really succeeding in quick commerce from those that aren't quite unlocking the full potential or opportunities? Yeah. Yeah, look, I think a couple of things come to mind here as well, like still partner heavily with the retailer on ranging and assortment decisions. That's obviously paramount. Like having a good ranging and assortment is definitely key as a step one, right?
[00:28:40] And the product imagery and the like with working with your CSPs and retailers, certainly. I mean, I guess the foundation of any quick commerce strategy is ensuring the right products are available. So working with your retailer partners to secure optimal ranging on the platform. Yes. This digital shelf is just as competitive as the physical one.
[00:29:00] And so, you know, we have tools now as we have advanced our ads platform that enable brands to see and audit their catalog. So brands can go in and view that catalog, understand what products have imagery, descriptions and the like, you know, make quick recommendations and suggestions to our platform. We can work with them on that to, you know, having a baseline level of hygiene is ticked, right? From that first step.
[00:29:29] You've got to be there and the hygiene, you have to get the hygiene right. That's kind of your entry into quick commerce, but that's the starting point. It's not what good looks like. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, that's now an easy thing to effectively solve for as we've advanced our Uber marketing managers, so certainly. And I think then it's about planning joint activations, right?
[00:29:54] Obviously, we have a lot of first party data that reveals what shoppers want based on time of day, context, their habits. You know, it's not just what's available, but leveraging to design campaigns for intent, not just availability. Like, let's assume we've solved availability and product imagery there. Now look at some of those signals for predictable intent.
[00:30:13] And we saw this take shape with our great partnership with Pepsi, you know, our award-winning partnership, I should say, with Pepsi, with the Red Rock Deli brand. A shameless plug there, but we're quite proud of our work there. But like showing up with value across their retailer partners on our platform, but obviously with relevance, you know, and purchase intent moments with, you know, beverage pairing suggestions across that famous chip brand.
[00:30:41] And this resulted in, you know, 70% of the sales coming from new to brand customers, you know, arguably for a brand that is, you know, takes up a considerable portion of the overall sales in that category. It was very, very powerful. And look, we were fortunate, as I mentioned, enough to win Best Burrito Media Award at the Mumbrilla Awards last year and Best Occasion-Based Shopper Campaign at the ANZ Shop Awards last year as well.
[00:31:04] So it was a quite powerful moment for us as a company, as a team, but also, you know, recognise those intense signals and how powerful they can be for the brand on the platform as well. So, you know, what I'm hearing is that being able to tap into the insight around the shopper moments and missions that matter and really thinking about how does that play a key role in activating across the platform is key.
[00:31:31] Yeah. And I think I look at insights as either validating or challenging something that you might have an assumption about, right? If they're validating something, then that's a clear opportunity to go, you know, full throttle against that. And that's a pocket of growth that we can identify. I think if it's, you know, challenging something, that's interesting. Let's explore that more. Let's understand and underpin what audiences, you know, go behind that.
[00:31:56] But I think these insights can actually extend to other teams as well, not just, you know, in that example with Red Rock Deli, it started as a brand conversation, has now quickly turned into a shopper conversation as well with that team. We certainly, given that we sit in almost like this middle component between brand, between marketing, between shopper, between trade and agency, there's a lot of commerce as well.
[00:32:22] Our ambition is to join those dots and connect that tissue as we're a platform built on partnerships, right? We have, you know, thousands of customers in the retail space, hundreds of earners that are fulfilling that sort of mission on the back end. And so we strive to sort of join those dots in our partners externally as well. And we are doing this for the long term, like building long-term partnerships rather than transactional campaigns is the goal.
[00:32:50] And we see that, again, we've referenced that flywheel a lot today, but brands who are, I guess, remaining consistent with that ambition of ours and that joint activation are seeing, you know, 66% higher 90-day retention rates across their customers who are playing into a habitual cycle of repeat purchase, right? So it's a powerful mechanism to, once you get right with joint aspiration and activation.
[00:33:14] But that repeat purchase might be happening on Uber, but it might also be happening back into the supermarket and retailer, right? And this is where proper omnichannel measurement and understanding the role that each of these channels are playing and how that's influencing new to brand, but then lifetime value off from that shopper is, it's really important.
[00:33:37] But I don't think we see currently in this market, brands have that level of maturity yet. But I think it's evolving and it's coming. Which other brands do you think are doing a really good job at activating the quick commerce opportunity in the local market? Because I know the clients that we work in, they love the examples. They love understanding who's doing what and why are they doing well? Yeah. Look, brands are having a bit of fun with it.
[00:34:07] Like they're recognizing those intense signals and those moments to go after as almost like creative opportunities to speak to their customers in new and exciting ways. We actually see there's three areas to think about and the brands that have played, have done well in here, have certainly played out in these three areas. And it's almost like questions to ask yourself. Like are you tapping into cultural relevance, right? Our audience in our research suggests that they're 40% more likely to respond to culturally fluent ads.
[00:34:37] And that's content that is showing up in ways that is feeling current and authentic and relevant. And so look, as an example, Mars Wrigley had an on-ground activation during the Australian Open this year. And so as customers were heading to the Australian Open, being picked up from the Australian Open, reminding customers in our journey ads of, you know, experience the activation on ground.
[00:35:00] As they were being picked up, it was more of a message of on-platform activation paired with some value there around the promotion as well. Or they were watching the Australian Open at home and searching chocolate, you know, during some of the five-hour games that were going on this year with the Australian Open, which was great to see. But like that combination of cultural relevance actually resulted in Mars seeing a 42% increase in their daily sales over that period of time, right?
[00:35:25] So phenomenal result for a brand of that size on the platform. But really clever in terms of the end-to-end thinking around that. That's aligning promo with cultural relevance and context and thinking about the role that media plays at different parts of the journey, right? It's really smart in terms of how they've executed that.
[00:35:50] And so, again, it's partly about execution here and planning that will deliver a stronger outcome, right? Having the contextual relevance is one piece, but it's how we execute and think about the multiple levers that we have at our disposal from a digital shelf point of view. Right back into is our product content going to effectively support that conversion when they finally land there on the platform.
[00:36:18] We see a lot of brands locally thinking a lot about retail media and not thinking enough about what is that experience end-to-end once they reach that PDP or the product to convert. So multiple touch points to sort of tick off and get right, but definitely a connected tissue behind it. Yeah, fantastic. And so, I mean, we've talked about so much so far.
[00:36:40] So before we wrap up, what I'd like to talk about is measurement because this is something that we see that many brands still struggle with locally around retail media more broadly. And we've talked a little bit about sales alone cannot really be the be-all and end-all from a measure of success point of view.
[00:37:00] If it is, you're probably setting yourself up a little bit for failure, particularly as, you know, the role of channel here is in part bringing in a new shopper, driving trial, which supports long-term growth for brands. So what should brands be considering when building a robust measurement framework to assess their investment and return from quick commerce? The channel itself and the associated media spend?
[00:37:30] Yeah, it's a very important question given that, you know, there's a lot of shiny toys out there in the ecosystem that sort of promise the sales growth and various things. I think it's important to obviously partner with companies that do have scale and footprint of understanding or truly understanding their customers to bake into that measurement framework.
[00:37:51] And so like as an example, like each day, we see over 40 million trips globally, you know, and a trip can comprise of either a ride or offer, which is just phenomenal scale to think about of the actual moments that goes behind each of those individual trips, right? And so it's not just a digital proxy, but more information of how people actually move and transact.
[00:38:15] And so these signals from a measurement perspective give us that multi-dimensional picture of who your audience could be or is in that moment in time. Yes. And look, a single user journey can, you know, reveal many things like family trips with a car seat request in the back, business travel to airports, frequent garlic sauce add-ons and weekend orders during game time, as an example. You know, people don't fit into that one box, but the signals show that full picture if you'd like.
[00:38:45] And they're intent signals that you won't often get through the retail. I mean, that interesting one that you've just kind of shared around a car seat in the back seat. Retailers are still to know that information if they're in the grocery store, you know, and they're not buying nappies from them. Right. It's an interesting sort of touch point to think about how we actually show up if you're in the back of that Uber. What does that creative copy and message look like versus that young parent taking the business trip, right?
[00:39:14] We can see both and recognise both in real time there. And look, I think measurement is obviously key behind those, you know, those first party data signals. So, you know, since launch of our ads platform, we've partnered with over 20 measurement providers, you know, ranging from everything from brand health, attention, you know, right through the sales outcomes that help reinforce that moment and, you know, pattern behind those signals. And more coming, you know, very, very soon.
[00:39:43] So, we're quite bullish on the measurement piece, not just measuring on platform success, but real world behaviour and what's happening across a retailer or CPG's business in totality, right? So, very keen to sort of launch some of those initiatives soon. But I think as it comes to measurement, like my point of view here is, are we answering key use cases or questions off the back? That's sort of the fundamental human truth that we need to recognise with measurement framework.
[00:40:12] So, you know, are we driving new to brand sales? Are we retaining our loyal customers? Are we bringing back lapsed? Are we growing market share in a certain area? Yeah, as long as we're answering some of those tentpole questions, I think measurement frameworking can marry up to that quite seamlessly with the right data and partnerships off the back, certainly.
[00:40:31] That comes back to having clear objectives and goals from the outset in order to then tie the right measurement framework around it rather than trying to apply the same metrics across everything that we do. Definitely. Yeah, definitely. And look, incrementality is a big one, right? I think we're all, everyone's trying to prove out incrementality, certainly.
[00:40:52] And look, you know, we're hearing from brands that are doing it themselves on, you know, our platform, you know, since this is more of an anecdotal evidence here, they've done some studies on their side independently. But they're saying to us that, you know, almost 90% of the sales that are coming on our platform for their business is incremental. Yeah. In their business. Yes. Wow. Wow. So it's starting to take shape that story, right? You're not playing in quick commerce. It's a guarantee.
[00:41:23] But Uber's seeing up to 90% incremental sales. The reality is CPGs, FMCGs, you know, it's a challenging time to drive growth. And it's a costly time to drive growth. Quick commerce provides a new vehicle and avenue that if you're not doing it today within your organisation as part of your growth strategy, maybe it's something you need to be considering and thinking about as a new growth lever.
[00:41:50] If you're wanting to reach new incremental customers, then it's the channel to start thinking about how we explore. All right, Matt, we have covered so much in this conversation and I could probably sit here for another hour chatting, but I'm going to let you go. So I think it's been a really, really practical discussion.
[00:42:09] But before I do wrap up, for anyone who does want to do a bit of a deeper dive into some of the trends that we've discussed today, we've included a link to Uber's latest quick commerce trends report and that's available in the show notes. And Matt, if our listeners would like to continue the conversation or connect with you about the quick commerce opportunity, where's the best place to find you? Yeah, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and I'm happy to take the conversation forward.
[00:42:38] But yeah, really, really enjoyed the conversation today, mate. It was fun. Me too. All right. So thank you so much for your time, Matt. And as always, a big thanks to everyone for tuning in to Unpacking the Digital Shelf, the APAC edition with me, Teresa Spurdy.