DoorDash Acquires Ad Tech Platform
DoorDash has acquired ad tech platform Symbiosys to expand the delivery service’s off-site advertising capabilities on the DoorDash Ads platform. Symbiosys is a retail media platform that helps brands extend their reach into such digital channels as search, social and display. The acquisition is valued at $175 million. Additionally, DoorDash is introducing innovative AI-driven tools to make it easier for brands and businesses to grow and for consumers to discover.
Symbiosys’ self-serve platform enables advertisers to run campaigns across search, social and display, all integrated with DoorDash’s closed-loop measurement system. Using Symbiosys, brands can engage consumers outside of the DoorDash app and drive incremental off-platform sales with greater transparency and control.
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Meanwhile, DoorDash’s new AI tools for restaurants include the ability to create customized campaigns for small and midsize businesses, interest targeting and category share insights on Ad Manager, a report builder to track marketing spend across channels, and financial reconciliation providing more granular data.
For brands, the company is offering sponsored brand enhancements, Ad Manager reporting metrics, and the expansion of sponsored ads to global search.
Peter Giordano, head of the ads platform and growth services at San Francisco-based DoorDash, explained to Progressive Grocer how these moves will help grocers on the local commerce platform.
“We have built an ads platform that allows every single partner in the DoorDash ecosystem to grow their business. It allows CPG brands to promote themselves to consumers, drive awareness to consumers [who] can purchase those products at their nearest grocery store. We’ve launched off-site ads allowing advertisers to run ads outside of DoorDash on Google, on Meta, on TikTok, and even though 25% of our monthly active users shop on DoorDash from a non-restaurant, that still means 75% of users shop only restaurants," Giordano said in a brief interview with PG.
"So we are generating more awareness that you can do your grocery shopping on DoorDash, you can get your favorite product on DoorDash, add it to your cart, and have it [at] your door in 30 minutes," he continued. "That's why we are so excited about driving off-site ads, because between DoorDash, the retailer – in this case a grocer – and a brand together, we are generating more awareness, more sales, more new-to-brand customers that are now transacting, because maybe that just wasn't their habit previously. So everything that we're doing is driving that flywheel for the brand and for the grocer or the retailer at the same time.”
DoorDash Ads has more than 150,000 global advertisers.
