Three years ago, Uber acquired an alcohol delivery service called Drizly for $1.1 billion. Now Uber has announced that it will shut down this part of its service. Moreover, they also stated that additional issues and circumstance added to their decision of shutting down this service.
First, Uber said that since the beginning Drizly was an odd match for them. However, the bigger issue that impacted their decision emerged in 2020 after Drizly pointed to a hack that exposed information on around 2.5 million customers.
Furthermore, despite being aware of the hacking issue for over two years the company had no rush on fixing this problem. The issue ended up being discover by the Federal Trade Commission and they ended up with an FTC order that restricted the types of customer information that Drizly could collect and retain.
Purposed Behind the App
First of all, it is important to note that despite Uber working closely with Drizly they did not hire or contracted its own delivery worker. Instead, Drizly provided backend tech that let local liquor stores provide their own deliveries.
In addition, the overall purposed of the company was to obtain a large selection of beer, wine and liquor. The order of this item where made to local retailers through the app as mentioned above.
After the order was made it was then deliver to the homes of does individuals. Of course it was only deliver to does homes in states and cities where alcohol delivery was legal.
What Does Uber Have to Say
Uber did speak up on their service closing. They mentioned their plans moving forward with Uber and their intentions after the Drizly app close.
After three years of Drizly operating independently within the Uber family, we’ve decided to close the business and focus on our core Uber Eats strategy of helping consumers get almost anything — from food to groceries to alcohol — all on a single app.
Additionally, Uber also mention their gratitude and appreciation towards the app for helping them provided and distribute their services for the couple of year that they worked together.
We’re grateful to the Drizly team for their many contributions to the growth of the BevAlc delivery category as the original industry pioneer.
Written By Nohemi Sanchez
AXIOS: Scoop: Uber shutting down alcohol delivery service Drizly
The Wall Street Journal: Uber Is Closing an Alcohol – Delivery Business It Bought for Over $1 Billion Three Years Ago
USA Today: Uber shutting down alcohol delivery app Drizly after buying it for $1.1 billion
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Inset Image Courtesy of Alper Cugun Flickr Page – Creative Common License
