On-demand convenience delivery retailer Gopuff and e-commerce beverage-alcohol platform Drizly are teaming up to provide broader service for bev-alc delivery, the companies announced today.
“As we continue to build the best shopping experience for beverage alcohol, teaming up with Gopuff is our next step in offering consumers convenient delivery options for drinks,” Blaine Grinna, Drizly’s senior director of retail ops, said in a press release. “Drizly’s infrastructure for alcohol e-commerce coupled with Gopuff’s network of commerce locations will extend the ease of on-demand delivery of beer, wine and spirits nationwide and help even more customers of legal drinking age shop the best drinks for the moment.”
Through this partnership, Gopuff warehouses and the brick-and-mortar liquor retailers the company has acquired (Liquor Barn in 2021 and BevMo in 2020) will be added to Drizly’s online marketplace in 26 states, including Florida, Texas, New York, Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina, according to the release. The expansion adds almost 20 BevMo locations in Arizona and Washington and increases the number of Liquor Barn outlets using the platform in Kentucky.
“Gopuff continues to drive the future of commerce by leveraging our network and infrastructure to innovate, improve and streamline the shopping experience wherever consumers make purchases online – on Gopuff, third-party platforms, social media, and beyond,” Gopuff SVP of business Daniel Folkman said in the release. “Today, we are excited to expand upon our relationship with Uber by offering our beer, wine and spirits selection to Drizly customers 21+ in applicable markets, bringing the unparalleled Gopuff experience to more consumers nationwide.”
Gopuff operates delivery-only warehouses through a network of drivers, which it augments through third-party systems such as UberEats and now, Drizly. Not all Gopuff warehouses are licensed to sell alcohol.
The partnership between Gopuff and Uber, Drizly’s parent company, began in 2021. That move drew scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which launched an investigation into whether the arrangement limited competition in bev-alc delivery, due to Uber’s ownership of Drizly. Uber acquired Drizly in early 2021 in a $1.1 billion cash and stock deal.
Following a period of rapid expansion and sky-high valuations, Gopuff has taken several cost-cutting measures of late, including shutting down 76 U.S. warehouses – about 12% of its network – and laying off 10% of its global workforce in July, according to CNBC. The company also eliminated hundreds of jobs in April and October.