In an effort to extend their existing local arrangements to reach more consumers across the world, bp and Uber Technologies announced a new global strategic convenience delivery partnership. Together, the partners will offer a huge range of quality convenience products, including fresh and prepared ranges, from select retail locations.
bp is the first convenience retailer to team up with Uber Eats on a global level and aims to have more than 3,000 retail locations available on the delivery platform over the next three years. The partnership supports bp’s goal of growing its access to customers and expanding its delivery footprint, in response to soaring demand for food, groceries and everyday essentials brought to the door.
The new partnership covers retail sites in Australia, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa and the U.S. West Coast. Sites in the U.K. and eastern U.S. will be added to the app for the first time this year, with plans to launch in other European markets from 2023.
“We’re thrilled to team up with Uber Eats globally, giving us the opportunity to reach many more consumers online in addition to those who currently visit our retail sites. We’ve seen how the pandemic has accelerated customer demand for delivered convenience and this partnership will allow us to scale up quickly on the Uber platform. And for the first time, we will be able to offer delivery options to existing customers on our own BPme app by the end of 2023,” said Emma Delaney, executive vice president of customers & products at bp.
With 20,500 bp retail sites across the world and 550 million customers living within 20 minutes of a bp retail site, the partners see enormous opportunities for growth. bp sites offer a range of products tailored to local markets which may include hot and cold drinks, food-for-now options as well as staple groceries, fresh produce and ready meals, plus wine, beer and flowers.
In the U.K., customers will be able to access a range of Wild Bean Café and other branded food and products via Uber Eats — with the first 120 sites due live on the platform by the end of June.
In the U.S., the offer will be made available to bp’s network of independently owned retail locations to support the growth of their businesses. The goal is to make it easy for these partners to sign up to the Uber Eats platform and access benefits based on bp’s scale.
bp will benefit from Uber’s global brand and operations footprint, technology for dispatching orders and more than 4.4 million drivers and couriers on the platform worldwide.
As part of the agreement, Uber Eats and bp will work to introduce delivery options onto bp’s own app, BPme — initially planned to be available in the U.K., U.S. and Australia by the end of 2023 — powered by Uber Direct. This new offer will allow bp to directly connect its customers to delivery riders, making Uber Eats the trusted partner in fulfilling these orders. Since 2019, bp has seen a three-fold increase in users of the BPme app, with 16 million active loyalty users worldwide.
“With more than 20,500 locations around the world, bp’s reach is enormous — making them critical partners as we pursue our ambitions of helping consumers across the world get what they need delivered to their doorsteps,” said Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty, Uber’s senior vice president of Global Delivery. “We are proud to support this next phase of the company’s convenience growth through this delivery partnership and look forward to deeper collaboration in the future.”
bp and Uber already work together in mobility with bp providing electric vehicle charging for Uber’s ride-hail drivers. The companies will explore other areas for future cooperation in convenience, including opportunities to utilize low carbon delivery methods to fulfill orders from bp sites.
bp’s purpose is to reimagine energy for people and the planet. It has set out an ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world get to net zero.
