Square launches direct on-demand delivery for restaurants with flat fees instead of commissions

Restaurants, bakeries bars and breweries in Canada using Square Online can provide On-Demand Delivery through third-party delivery service DoorDash with no commission fee.

In the U.S., where the service first launched for Square sellers in June 2020, On-Demand Delivery has seen a 173 per cent growth, year over year, between June and December 2020 and the same period in 2021, the company said in a news release.

Bakery-cafés and other restaurants using Square Online across Canada can tap into the DoorDash logistics network and dispatch a courier to deliver orders placed directly on their website including food and alcoholic beverages where applicable and permissible by law. This feature provides Canadian businesses with a new revenue stream without the costly overhead associated with building out a delivery fleet or hiring and training additional staff.

Canadian businesses can take control of delivery to their loyal customer base directly from their own websites, commission-free. For some businesses, this may be a more cost-efficient alternative than other delivery solutions currently on the market and also encourages sellers to fully own the relationship with their customers, the company said.

When an order is placed on the business’s online store, a DoorDash courier is dispatched to the business’s location, picks up the order, and delivers it to the customer. The customer receives text updates with links to a live map to track delivery progress. Sellers pay a flat fee of $1.50 per order to Square and a flat delivery fee to DoorDash — without the marketplace commissions. Sellers can pass the delivery fee entirely to the buyer or offer custom delivery promotions. When applied across hundreds of delivery orders each month, sellers can save a significant amount on per-order costs.

Additionally, when customers place an order through Square Online, businesses receive their contact information in the Square Customer Directory and can maintain sales history to better market to those customers and develop relationships. When paired with other products like Square Loyalty and Square Marketing, sellers can further strengthen customer relationships and encourage customers to keep coming back. Square Online also may be integrated with Square POS.

For more information, visit https://squareup.com.