Amazon.com (AMZN.US) is adding food delivery benefits from Uber (UBER.US) for Prime members on its shopping website, forming a deeper partnership. This comes just one week after rival DoorDash, Inc. (DASH.US) agreed to acquire Instacart.
The two companies announced in a statement on Thursday that U.S. Prime members who place orders through a new Uber Eats interface on Amazon's website or app, with a minimum order value of $25 or more, will have their Uber delivery fees waived. This new integration allows Prime members to order from hundreds of thousands of restaurants on Uber's platform without leaving the Amazon app or creating an Uber account.
An Uber spokesperson declined to comment on the commercial terms of the deal, including whether the company would pay Amazon a referral fee for orders originating from the e-commerce site. The two companies are strengthening their ties amid intensifying industry competition. DoorDash is acquiring delivery service provider Instacart to challenge the expanding online grocery plans of Amazon and Walmart (WMT.US). Uber had discussed acquiring Instacart but ultimately withdrew from negotiations.
Under the new agreement, Uber will be able to reach Amazon's hundreds of millions of paid Prime users, including those who might not otherwise use Uber's namesake app to order food. Uber already relies on Amazon's custom chips and cloud computing services to power its ride-hailing and food delivery operations.
According to an Amazon spokesperson, Amazon's agreement with Uber replaces a similar previous partnership with Grubhub. The spokesperson added that the Grubhub+ subscription will no longer be an ongoing benefit for Prime members after Thursday. Prime subscription costs $139 annually in the U.S., offering benefits such as shipping discounts and Amazon's video streaming service.
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