The First Postmates Economic Impact Report — How Do Local Retailers Compete in the Digital Economy?
Postmates has always focused on giving brick & mortar businesses the tools to compete with larger retail goliaths — especially in the era of 21st century e-Commerce. And today, we’re proud to unveil our first look into how on-demand technology is powering the future of retail and commerce in cities, creating flexible work opportunities, and boosting the economic activity of the storefronts in our neighborhoods.
While some companies build wholesale warehouses on the outskirts of cities we believe whole cities are our warehouses. They are home to the goods, tastes, and scents that not only define the character of our communities, but also power our local economies. Yet as the face of commerce rapidly evolves with new technologies of convenience — our neighborhood hardware stores, pharmacies, bodegas and even malls are facing global headwinds.
But on-demand technologies provide a way for brick and mortar retail to modernize, compete, and grow in this evolving landscape. By plugging merchants into smart algorithms that connect storefronts to new customers; mapping technologies that extend the geographical reach of their sales; and a vast courier network (150,000+ Postmates) — retailers are now able to move goods from their storefronts, to our doorsteps, faster than ever before.
Read full report, here.
Retail Growth
In 2017 we helped merchant partners grow by about 3.7X compared to non-merchant partners; brick & mortar Postmates merchants were able to increase their connection with more customers, along with their order volumes — stocking their shelves with more precision due to more precise seasonal data.
“Since signing with Postmates, we’ve seen a 25 percent increase in our third-party delivery sales,” said Reece Lichtenstein, owner of Homeroom in Oakland, CA.
“…Postmates adds to our growth by adding additional customers….and adding a significant percentage to our daily revenue…This not only sometimes more than doubles revenue for a week, it adds jobs” said Danny Trejo, owner of Trejo’s Tacos in Los Angeles, CA.
Earnings Growth
The Postmates platform is able to reach approximately 35 million households across America, but that’s only made possible by the power of our Postmates fleet. In 2017, our Postmates helped our customers save time and gas, by making 35 million trips — the equivalent of traveling to the moon and back 212 times; we saved our customers 11 million hours to invest in their families, their work, and their lives. That amounted to $217 million in collective earnings for our Postmates, averaging about $18.32 an hour while active on the job. PS. That’s 153% more than the federal minimum wage!
We know our Fleet works hard, and we know they value working when they want and how they want. That’s why each day our product and engineering teams remained focused on how to increase efficiencies in the app and drive even more earnings to the pockets of our Postmates. And that’s why our policy team is engaged in a national dialogue with lawmakers across the country about how to preserve that worker flexibility, invest in their economic mobility, and shape the future of work.
Economic Growth
All of those sales, all of those earnings, and all of that growth not only went into the pockets of our Postmates and Merchants — it also rippled across the US economy. Lastly, Postmates helps deliver economic growth across the U.S. each year. In fact, for every $1 spent on the Postmates platform — the additional sales, hiring, and job creation lead to an approximate $18.55 in additional economic impact. In summary, the Postmates platform helped create $6.6 billion in economic activity across the country!
With the overnight transformation of how goods move in our communities, Postmates is changing the way people interact with our cities; we stand for tools that invest in buying local, supporting our neighborhoods, shaping the future of the workforce, and positively impacting people’s lives. We get it. And we’re just getting started.
