• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 13, 2021

DoorDash wants to increase its advertising offerings to better compete with Instacart and Uber Eats.

The company this week launched an advertising platform for brands, with self-service capabilities.

Offerings are for restaurants and consumer product goods (CPG) brands. 

PepsiCo, and Uncle Julio’s are among the early adopters. The move supports DoorDash’s formal launch into an advertising business with new ad formats.

Instacart launched a self-service ad platform for promoted products in search results in its advertising platform in May 2020, as demand for the company’s services climbed. Brands and agencies can now buy ads through a self-service platform, similar to the way an advertiser might purchase ads through Google Ads or Microsoft Ads.

DoorDash Sponsored Listings expands on the company’s self-service marketing options beyond promotions by allowing restaurants to bid for ads that appear on top of the search results in its app.

Toby Espinosa, vice president, DoorDash Ads, calls the move the “next step in this journey: a flexible ad platform that allows any brand on main street to reach more consumers and grow their business on DoorDash.”

Merchants only pay for orders placed through their ad and not for ad clicks or impressions.

Setting up campaigns via the Merchant Portal is seamless, with no prior advertising experience needed.

Sponsored Listings is designed to help local restaurants increase their visibility, generate orders, and find their next customer.  

Restaurants can log in to the Merchant Portal and navigate to the Grow Your Sales tab to create a Sponsored Listing.

The advertiser will pay for orders placed via the ad -- not the ad click or impression -- according to the company’s blog.

CPG brands also can increase visibility and boost placement in relevant categories in the convenience and grocery categories with Featured Listings. 

The goal is to help consumers search for what they need, so the DoorDash identified the touchpoints that allow for merchants and customers to find each other.