From Takeaway to Retail: The Evolution of Quick Commerce with Matt McGinley, Head of CPG and Retail – Uber Advertising, ANZ

Transcript

Our transcripts are generated by AI. Please excuse any typos and if you have any specific questions please email info@digitalshelfinstitute.org.

Lauren Livak Gilbert (00:00):

Welcome to Unpacking the Digital Shelf APAC Edition, where we explore the unique challenges and opportunities shaping digital commerce across Asia Pacific with insights from the region's top experts.

Teresa Sperti (00:23):
Hello and welcome back to Unpacking the Digital Shelf the APAC Edition. Today we're diving into one of the fastest growing channels in Australian retail, quick commerce. What started as a way to order dinner has evolved into something much, much bigger. Shoppers are now buying everything from groceries and beauty products to hardware and home essentials and expecting it all to arrive in minutes, not days. Our latest inside digital and e-commerce report found that quick commerce and rapid delivery are becoming increasingly important for both brands and retailers alike as they tap into shoppers' insatiable demand for convenience and need it now shopping missions. Today, we're unpacking how retailers are embracing quick commerce and rapid delivery as part of their omnichannel strategy and what separates the brands winning in this space from those still sitting on the sidelines. Joining me today is somebody at the center of this market shift.

(01:20):
Matt McGinley is the head of CPG and retail for Uber Australia across Australia and New Zealand. He works with some of the region's largest CPG and retail brands, helping them connect with high intent shoppers through Uber's rapidly growing retail media ecosystem. With more than a decade of experience across retail media, digital advertising and strategic partnerships, Matt has a front row seat to how shopper behavior is changing and how brands are adapting. Matt, welcome to the pod. I'm really, really excited for this discussion.

Matt McGinley (01:54):
Thanks Matt. Happy to be here. Yeah, excited.

Teresa Sperti (01:56):
It's going to be a good one. All right, so let's dive in. We've got a stack of content to unpack. So Matt, let's start with the shopper because ultimately that's what's driving all of this change. Convenience isn't a new concept, but it certainly feels like customer expectations have shifted quite dramatically in our local market over the past couple of years.

Matt McGinley (02:19):
Yeah, definitely. And I think you're absolutely right. Convenience and that expectation of convenience has shifted. And I'll give you an example in my own personal experience about many, many years ago, it was Friday night, you've just ordered takeaway, you had to go to the actual restaurant to pick up that takeaway. Where I lived as a kid, there was a video easy across the road. You would often go in store and pick your overnights and your weeklies to enjoy with your meal. Great experience, certainly that in-store experience was phenomenal. All of that happens now in seconds and a few taps of a button. So that expectation of what was once a time baked into that can happen in quite literally a tap of a button. So we're seeing that expectation shift rapidly and consumers are expecting that time to be given back to them now in their daily rhythms.

(03:11):
And look, we're seeing this play out across three areas or evolve across three areas, I should say. The first thing is around this theme of frictionless living is becoming this baseline expectation. Consumers no longer see convenience as a premium offering. They see it as table stakes. They see it as a baseline expectation of their daily lives. So platforms like Uber have almost normalized this seamless experience, creating new benchmarks for where anything less than that feels like a compromise. If an Uber is longer than 10 minutes to arrive at your destination, you feel uneasy. So when we get it wrong as well, it's certainly there. But frictionless e-commerce payment processes are now the number one concern for at least half of global consumers. So it's definitely

Teresa Sperti (03:56):
A common

Matt McGinley (03:56):
Theme that is driving that. I guess the second thing is emotional outsourcing and decision relief. This is a big one because quick commerce is not just about speed anymore. It was always seen as that treat yourself once a week, takeaway meal and a luxury, but it now is that baseline expectation as I mentioned. And it's becoming more and more about decision relief. Being in control of your life is a top marker of success for Australians, yet they paradoxically feel more out of control than ever. And so we're increasingly seeing outsourcing this small everyday choices that sap mental energy, dinner groceries, household staples, and no longer decisions to agonize over as an example.

Teresa Sperti (04:41):
That one definitely speaks to me. So that cognitive load and that mental load, do it for me, make it easy, allow me to be able to do something closer to the point where I need it done without me needing to think ahead. It makes sense with the busy lives, particularly with that millennial cohort and Gen Z cohort, which I assume are some of the biggest adopters of this quick commerce

Matt McGinley (05:11):
Trend. Absolutely. And over 70% of our audience falls into that millennial and Gen Z bucket and their habitual nature of the platform is there's a lot of repetition once they use it. Once certainly in the retail side, they're more likely to continue using that feature. And then look, the last area and you hit the nail on the head there is that curated convenience is now the norm. Consumers are living in an era of hyper personalization, so they expect brands to anticipate what they need, show up in those convenient moments and services. And look, research says that 72% of customers show an appetite for one super app to streamline and consolidate that mobile commerce experience. But it's interesting because quick commerce, it was always talked about speed, but it's now becoming less and less about the actual purchase itself and more that relief and time back being represented in those baskets and items and brands at the forefront and retailers as well.

Teresa Sperti (06:10):
The job to be done for the shopper is, I mean there's the functional job of what I need or need now, but that higher order job to be done is give me my time back.

Matt McGinley (06:21):
Definitely, definitely.

Teresa Sperti (06:22):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay. So one of the biggest shifts we've seen is that quick commerce is no longer just about takeaway and grocery. We've talked a little bit about the baskets and the behaviors that you're seeing on the platform, but consumers are now ordering everything from beauty products to hardware. What's driving that expansion and what does that tell us about how consumer expectations are changing?

Matt McGinley (06:48):
Yeah, look, what it tells us is that convenience is now a competitive edge. So if you're a retailer partner, if you're a brand that is looking at this space and looking at convenience as being that premium area to explore in the past, it's now again, that baseline expectation, but it's also a competitive edge if done correctly and there's value in that channel being given to consumers. So consumers expect and prefer real time convenience from brands, not just for dinner across a dynamic range of categories and products, but categories are expanding because consumer mindsets have expanded. And if it can be delivered, it should be in some regards.

(07:27):
And look, as an example, we're certainly seeing, as you mentioned, categories like personal care and pet care up significantly year over year to the degree of almost 70 to 80%. And earlier this year we sold our first lawnmower in Bunnings on Uber Eats. So that's an interesting shopping mission to think about what went into that decision mindset somewhere on lawn wasn't mowed that was promised to be. There's something around that. And look, it's quite humorous to think about, but that is also representing the new missions that are popping up as a result of our channel and speed at the forefront of that as well.

Teresa Sperti (08:06):
And I would assume that the more retailers that are partnering with Uber, the more that diversifies its range across a greater array of categories. And so that creates a bit of a flywheel in itself with respect to shoppers then going to Uber as a go-to platform to buy and satisfy more of their needs.

Matt McGinley (08:30):
Absolutely. Absolutely. They're coming to our platform now to fit into their daily rhythms of life as opposed to that historical need on the platform.

Teresa Sperti (08:41):
And that subscription based approach, which Uber deploys like Amazon and the line, it makes sense to maximize the value as a subscriber to the platform.

Matt McGinley (08:53):
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We see certainly our UberOne subscribers making up a healthy lion's share of their retail customer base and certainly increasing in basket size in average units per order, orders per store, things of that nature. And that flywheel certainly taking place there. Yeah.

Teresa Sperti (09:13):
So we've seen a wave of new partnerships established over the past 12 to 18 months locally. It's something we've been monitoring at Arctic Fox between retailers and quick commerce platforms like Uber. I'd like to dig into that with you in a bit more detail because there are some really different approaches retailers are taking to partnering. It's not really one size fits all from what we're seeing. So what does partnering look like for retailers

Matt McGinley (09:42):
In this space? It's a great question and it's something that we take obviously seriously, but we like to think of ourselves as an embedded channel, certainly with the retailer partners that we have on the marketplace. A couple of things that come to mind, retailer motivation, convenience as an omnichannel strategy pillar of their business. If retailers are integrating quick commerce as not just a delivery play, but as a way to reinforce, I guess relevance across their entire shopper journey, both physical and mental availability at the forefront there, and quick commerce lets them show up in those precise moments of need across multiple occasions. So it's unlocking true incremental customers and missions for them to explore. I think a big example of this is last year we recognized that for many Aussies on the platform, their Kohl's shop delivered through Uber Eats app is no longer about an occasional convenience, but again, part of that rhythm of everyday life.

(10:42):
And so our partnership this year with Kohl's or towards the end of last year rather, provided Australians with greater value, convenience, and I guess choice by providing ultimately the largest selection of groceries ever available on an on-demand delivery platform in Australia. We actually increased that footprint by 50% to 17,000 skews

(11:03):
And very quickly extended into retail media, providing suppliers more premium opportunities and formats to show up across the homepage, the Kohl's storefront, and to reach highly engaged and ultimately incremental shoppers for that retailer. And it's

Teresa Sperti (11:19):
Important, I think everything that you're unpacking, it's interesting if you're thinking about it as a retailer, how do I partner with Uber? But equally as a brand, it's interesting and important for brands to understand, well, how are retailers partnering? You talked about the shopfronts that exist within the Uber platform for Kohl's. Understanding how the retailer is partnering then means what do I need to think about in terms of the conversations I'm having with the retailer in order to drive discoverability within certain categories or product lines and maximize my presence on shelf in those QuickCommerce environments?

Matt McGinley (12:02):
Yeah, definitely. And it's a joint discussion or it should be an ambition to have it as a joint discussion really that we see that value playing out

Teresa Sperti (12:09):
Certainly. Yeah. It's a really, really interesting space and it makes sense. I mean, the reality is if I can get what I need now through platforms like Uber and DoorDash, then as shoppers are moving and engaging into retail environments, they expect those same options to be available as shoppers start to engage with their 1P delivery, et cetera, et cetera. So it makes sense seeing these different models evolve in market in different ways that Uber's partnering both on platform and as a 1P kind of - Yeah,

Matt McGinley (12:45):
Certainly, certainly. And some of our retailer partners are looking at our fulfillment mechanism and logistics backend for that reason. We are partnering and integrating directly into the Uber Eats marketplace certainly, but others are just using that third party logistics backend to power their 1P channels, and we're seeing some phenomenal success at the back of that as they start to bring in more rapid delivery on their own

Teresa Sperti (13:10):
Tech

Matt McGinley (13:11):
And their own marketplaces, certainly.

Teresa Sperti (13:13):
Which

Matt McGinley (13:13):
Makes

Teresa Sperti (13:13):
Sense. The ability to build that capability for certain retailers and how capital intensive it is, it makes sense that you're seeing growth across both marketplace and into 1P.

Matt McGinley (13:27):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Look, I think the last thing I'll say here is what really sets retailers apart who win are those that are treating our channel in quick commerce as a strategic channel. Investing, as you said, in ranging and assortment and digital shelf presence and joint marketing initiatives to drive the value across all of that. These retailers, they outperform those who treat it as a bolt-on or treat it as a siloed channel. And so the platform then rewards those who show it consistently, who optimize listings, strong product imagery as an example, and relevant promotions. We see value playing out a lot across the platform.

Teresa Sperti (14:07):
So it really requires the retailer to evolve their operating model, like you say, giving. It's about always on. It's not set and forget. It's not set the platform up, plug and play, and off we go. Decisions around ranging are an evolution, I would assume. Absolutely. What's not, how are we optimizing that range and assortment, potentially expanding over time, but equally how we merchandising and trading on the platform is critical to drive success as a retailer within the marketplace, which makes sense. It's another digital shelf that

Matt McGinley (14:44):
Managed

Teresa Sperti (14:44):
At a strategic level for the organization.

Matt McGinley (14:47):
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Teresa Sperti (14:49):
Okay. So how do you expect the convenience ecosystem to then continue evolving over the next few years? As I said, we've seen the number of retail partnerships form over the last 12 to 18 months, and I feel like it's accelerating in market. It's definitely having its moments. So how do you see it evolving over the next few years, and what does that mean for retailers and how they partner with players like yourselves?

Matt McGinley (15:17):
Yeah, look, as I said as well, we see Quick Commerce evolving from a delivery service to an embedded retail channel. We're already seeing the shift from impulse to intention consumers supplementing their planned grocery runs via Quick Commerce. I guess as that flywheel grows, platforms like Uber Eats become increasingly essential infrastructure for CPG brands, not just a nice to have and as well as for retailers alike. I think obviously the role of AI in agentic commerce will play a significant role in not just our lives, but certainly in this space given that the need

Teresa Sperti (15:54):
Is

Matt McGinley (15:54):
Satisfied and fulfilled in seconds and minutes. And so AI will increasingly personalize the shopping experience naturally. I guess the anticipatory need state will become very interesting of how AI can influence that, where AI can make purchases on behalf of customers. It'll raise the stakes for brand discoverability and digital shelf positioning. And I guess brands that are well positioned today with strong product data content, platform presence will benefit as AI shapes how recommendations and purchases are made. I guess quick commerce is not just about the now, it's about building that brand equity for the future and over the long term, which was where AI will bake that into its recommendation engine and powerful mechanism there.

Teresa Sperti (16:43):
I think you can't have a conversation at the moment without talking about product content in the context of AI and identic commerce and just how important it is. It's gone from a poor cousin to customer data within brands and retailers to a vital strategic asset overnight. For brands that are working with retailers and sharing their product content with retailers, is that enough or do they need to be thinking about how am I showing up on the Uber platform and how do I get better product data to Uber to support the retailer in that process? And the reason I ask the question is I'm having conversations with brands all of the time and we'll talk about quick commerce and the conversation will be, "Oh yeah, the retailer's managing that for me. I'm done." It's not that simple. So how do brands need to ensure that they're showing up effectively from a product content point of view on Uber?

Matt McGinley (17:38):
Yeah, it's a great question, and it's something that always comes up in almost the first conversations that we have with brands. We are integrated with all the major content service providers, your Salsifys, your SKU Vantages of the world. So we work extensively with those platforms to ensure that we're showing up in the right way or brands are showing up in the right way. So that would definitely rely on that as a step one, as well as working with us to work with obviously retailers as well to meet in the middle in some regards of showing up in the best way possible for a brand with lifestyle imagery as opposed to just the stock standard product imagery, the right description, things of that nature are paramount and we've got the right tools I think to really power that for sure.

Teresa Sperti (18:25):
Yes, yes. Yeah, because the way that the product shows up on shelf on Uber is different to the retailer.

Matt McGinley (18:30):
Definitely. And I think as well, the way the product shows up in certain moments across the app is also equally, if not the same sort of powerful lever for brands to drive growth. And we've talked about that sort of flywheel effect of ensuring all of these things are speaking harmoniously to each other. We see our super trajectory playing out or helping brands play out there. An interesting stat here is roughly about 30% of first time Uber Eats delivery customers, so that's someone who's using Uber Eats for the first time, 30% of those times actually come from an experience someone has had in the Uber mobility app.

Teresa Sperti (19:09):
Yes.

Matt McGinley (19:11):
So it's almost that

Teresa Sperti (19:12):
Gateway - makes sense, but it's good to be able to have that quantified in terms of where is that audience coming from?

Matt McGinley (19:20):
Definitely. So it's almost like a new channel acquisition both for us, but also for brands and retailers. And certainly as we grow the use cases in not just marketplace, but rides will be start to see that play out in the future as well.

Teresa Sperti (19:34):
So we've started talking a bit about brands, so I want to dig into a little bit more about what brands need to be thinking about. So many of them are trying to determine, and we see this in the work that we do, determine how quick commerce fits into their broader commerce strategy. And so if you're a brand today, how should you be thinking about quick commerce as part of that broader commerce and omnichannel

Matt McGinley (20:01):
Strategy? Yeah, so it's interesting. I started my career out in mobile advertising in Moby almost 15 years ago, and I see a very similar approach now of how brands are taking and looking at our channel in quick commerce to what they were looking at in mobile, which was the shiny toy at one stage. Mobile started as a silo, it started as a single channel to explore, and then very quickly became an embedded behavior in all of digital.

(20:30):
I see that playing out now, and certainly the brands that are leaning in are recognizing that quick commerce is not a separate channel. It's a strategic layer across their entire commerce ecosystem, given the rapid rise in additional moments. It intersects that physical retail driving trial and top up between major shops, digital commerce, reaching high intent customers, obviously at the point of purchase and brand building, creating consistent touch points that drive that recall and loyalty. It's like the funnel has collapsed. We're seeing media that now needs to both create and fulfill demand in that same moment, which is when done correctly with value and relevance is incredibly powerful when brands get it right.

Teresa Sperti (21:16):
Matt, it's really interesting. As you're talking, it's making me think it's not uncommon that silos form in organizations and see pet projects pop up. You have somebody who's very attuned to what is happening within the market, and they might be flying that quick commerce flag, but their senior leaders above them may not understand just how important this is. So they're starting to build some momentum behind it, but it's a project that they might be doing on the side of their desk because strategically the organization hasn't really quite caught up yet with respect to how important it is. And so that's what it sounds like I'm hearing in terms of where we are at as a market. I mean, you'll have some categories where it's more mature, you see that the thinking's more mature and you have some categories where the thinking is less mature. Is that fair to say within the local market?

Matt McGinley (22:17):
I'd say definitely, and a handful of people come to mind at suppliers, as you're saying, they're almost champions within their business that is driving this initiative. Some are more lent in obviously than others. I think there are certainly more categories that are lent in than others given the size and scale of their business on our platform relative to other emerging

Teresa Sperti (22:40):
Categories.

Matt McGinley (22:40):
I think my advice there would be to just be curious about what this opportunity represents, look at the growth that the channel has experienced over the last three to four years and the rise of just online grocery, obviously, but the rise of quick commerce and how that's powering a lion's share of the growth in online grocery, and then try to understand those pockets of growth of where we focus the energy and time on. But be curious to that because I think in the next three years when it becomes even more of a norm for the Australian population to use throughout their daily life, it's the brands that act now obviously that play into that space, create that repetition, latch onto that habitual nature that are quite powerful to evolve with.

Teresa Sperti (23:26):
Yeah, and I think the question brands need to start grappling with is can we afford to not be there and visible based on the size and scale of the audience?

Matt McGinley (23:38):
Yeah, and it's almost like the opportunity cost, right? What's that at risk of not acting here given the increase in planned and new spontaneous missions that are appearing as a result of this audience that I'm actively going after, and now there's so many new occasions that I can reach them in moments that matter to them as opposed to the weekly in-store shop. So shoppers, they're now using this quick commerce channel for everything from routine top-up shops to those last minute needs. And so the grocery presence can span both, which means ensuring core SKUs are available and promoted consistently, but also activating around contextual moments and occasions. So recognizing that opportunity from a broad perspective across your audience is definitely key there.

Teresa Sperti (24:32):
But mindset here is important with respect to we're not going to start on the platform and it's automatically going to deliver 20% of our sales. And I say that openly, largely because too often the decision about if we invest and how much we invest will be on the basis of, well, what portion of sales is it going to deliver commercially for us? And that will dictate or determine how much time and investment focus this is going to get when the way that we need to be thinking about it as a channel from a quick commerce perspective is it plays a different role within the mix, and it's enabling us to potentially reach an incremental audience that we may not be reaching currently, and what does that do to support our overall growth strategy at a category level or within certain ranges within our portfolio? Is that fair to say?

Matt McGinley (25:36):
Absolutely. And it's actually, you've hit the nail on the head there around some suppliers are looking at our channel of reaching their next generation of customer. So they're looking at very closely new to brand acquisition on our platform, and we're seeing the flywheel bring in new to retail customers every day. And so they're looking at our channel as an incremental customer base that they otherwise could not have reached before, absolutely, but focusing on those new to brand metrics that are just playing into their own flywheel as a business of growing total pie. So whilst we may be relative to traditional retailer channels, certainly on the smaller scale, it's about are we growing the total pie? And by all accounts, speaking to our suppliers and retailers alike, we're certainly doing that. Yeah,

Teresa Sperti (26:24):
Absolutely. I had a dollar for every client I went to see that said one of our key strategic objectives is to reach the next generation of shoppers.

Matt McGinley (26:35):
It's on the slide everywhere.

Teresa Sperti (26:36):
Yeah. And so it's about acquisition and it's about trial. It may not be about volume initially.

Matt McGinley (26:44):
Yeah, absolutely. If I could give some advice to brands that are starting out here, I would simplify it, identify who your target audience is, what are their missions and moments? Obviously we can help identify some of that for them, and then activating specifically where we can predict where pockets of growth will come from. So for example, and many brands, if young families are a bullseye audience you are wanting to grow market share within, the new missions may be as they're commuting home on a cold winter evening in the back of an Uber or thinking about the busy weekend ahead, a busy week ahead rather on Sunday night. These missions, they represent an opportunity for a brand to remove friction, giving time back. And if you do that correctly and with value and relevance between commerce and context, it's an incredibly powerful mechanism for sustained growth over the long term, which is what we see.

Teresa Sperti (27:42):
And that's the power of the network, Uber as a whole, because you are able to tap into broader moments versus just a grocery shopping mission that you just talked then about in the back of a going from point A to point B, and that's where some of these moments start because I've got some idle time where I need to achieve something.

Matt McGinley (28:09):
Yeah, absolutely.

Teresa Sperti (28:10):
Of my life admin list, so that's great. And so when you look across the brands you are working with, what separates those that are really succeeding in quick commerce from those that aren't quite unlocking the full potential or opportunity yet?

Matt McGinley (28:25):
Yeah, look, I think a couple of things that come to mind here as well, still partner heavily with the retailer on ranging and assortment decisions. That's obviously paramount. Having a good ranging and assortment is definitely key as a step one, and the product imagery and the like with working with your CSPs and retailers, certainly. I guess the foundation of any quick commerce strategy is ensuring the right products are available. So working with your retailer partners to secure optimal ranging on the platform, this digital shelf is just as competitive as the physical one. And so we have tools now as we have advanced our ads platform that enable brands to see and audit their catalog. So brands can go in and view that catalog, understand what products have imagery, descriptions and the like, make quick recommendations and suggestions to our platform. We can work with them on that to.

(29:24):
Having a baseline level of hygiene is ticked from that first step. They're

Teresa Sperti (29:30):
Going to be there on the hygiene, you have to get the hygiene right. That's kind of your entry into quick commerce, but that's the starting point. It's not what good looks like.

Matt McGinley (29:43):
Yeah. And that's now an easy thing to effectively solve for as we've advanced our Uber marketing managers, so certainly. And I think then it's about planning joint activations. Obviously we have a lot of first party data that reveals what shoppers want based on time of day. Context, their habits. It's not just what's available, but leveraging to design campaigns for intent, not just availability. Let's assume we've solved availability and product imagery there.

Teresa Sperti (30:11):
Now

Matt McGinley (30:11):
Look at some of those signals for predictable intent. And we saw this take shape with our great partnership with Pepsi, our award-winning partnership, I should say with Pepsi, with the Red Rock Deli brand, a shameless plug there, but we're quite proud of our work there. But showing up with value across their retailer partners on our platform, but obviously with relevance and purchase intent moments with beverage pairing suggestions across that famous chip brand. And this resulted in 70% of the sale is coming from new to brand customers. Arguably for a brand that takes up a considerable portion of the overall sales in that category was very, very powerful. And look, we were fortunate, as I mentioned, enough to win Best Burrito Media Award at the Mumbrella Awards last year and the best occasion-based shopper campaign at the NZ Shop Awards last year as well. So it was a quite powerful moment for us as a company, as a team, but also recognize those intense signals and how powerful they can be for the brand on the platform as well.

Teresa Sperti (31:13):
So what I'm hearing is that being able to tap into the insight around the shopper moments and missions that matter and really thinking about how does that play a key role in activating across the platform is key.

Matt McGinley (31:31):
Yeah. And I look at insights as either validating or challenging, something that you might have an assumption about. Yeah, absolutely. If they're validating something, then that's a clear opportunity to go full throttle against that. And that's a pocket of growth that we can identify. I think if it's challenging something, that's interesting. Let's explore that more. Let's understand and underpin what audiences go behind that. But I think these insights can actually extend to other teams as well, not just in that example with Red Rock Deli, it started as a brand conversation, has now quickly turned into a shopper

Teresa Sperti (32:08):
Conversation

Matt McGinley (32:09):
As well with that team. We certainly, given that we sit in almost this middle component between brand, between marketing, between shopper, between trade and agency, there's a lot of commerce as well. Our ambition is to join those dots and connect that tissue as we're a platform built on partnerships. We have thousands of customers in the retail space, hundreds of earners that are fulfilling that mission on the back end. And so we strive to join those dots in our partners externally as well. And we are doing this for the long term, building long-term partnerships rather than transactional campaigns is the goal. And we see that, again, we've referenced that flywheel a lot today, but brands who are, I guess, remaining consistent with that ambition of ours and that joint activation are seeing 66% higher 90-day retention rates across their customers who are playing into a habitual cycle of repeat purchase.

(33:10):
So it's a powerful mechanism to, once you get right with joint aspiration and activation can -

Teresa Sperti (33:15):
But that repeat purchase might be happening on Uber, but it might also be happening

(33:20):
Back into the supermarket and retailer. And this is where proper omnichannel measurement and understanding the role that each of these channels are playing and how that's influencing new to brand, but then lifetime value of from that shopper, it's really important. But I don't think we see currently in this market brands have that level of maturity yet, but I think it's evolving and it's coming. Which other brands do you think are doing a really good job at activating the quick commerce opportunity in the local market? Because I know the clients that we work in, they love the examples. They love understanding who's doing what and why are they doing well.

Matt McGinley (34:05):
Yeah. Look, brands are having a bit of fun with it. They're recognizing those intense signals and those moments to go after as almost like creative opportunities to speak to their customers in new and exciting ways. We actually see there's three areas to think about and the brands that have done well here have certainly played out in these three areas. And it's almost like questions to ask yourself. Are you tapping into cultural relevance? Our audience in our research suggests that they're 40% more likely to respond to culturally fluent ads, and that's content that is showing up in ways that is feeling current and authentic and relevant. And

Teresa Sperti (34:45):
So look,

Matt McGinley (34:45):
As an example, Mars Wrigley had an on-ground activation during the Australian Open this year. And so as customers were heading to the Australian Open, being picked up from the Australian Open, reminding customers in our journey ads of experience the activation on ground as they were being picked up, it was more of a message of on-platform activation paired with some value there around the promotion as well. Or they were watching Australian open at home and searching chocolate during some of the five-hour games that were going on this year with the Australian Open, which is great to see. But that combination of cultural relevance actually resulted in Mars seeing a 42% increase in their daily sales over that period of time. So phenomenal result for a brand of that size on the platform.

Teresa Sperti (35:32):
But really clever in terms of the end-to-end thinking around that, that's aligning promo with cultural relevance and context and thinking about the role that media plays at different parts of the journey. It's really smart in terms of how they've executed that. And so again, it's partly about execution here and planning that will deliver a stronger outcome. Having the contextual relevance is one piece, but it's how we execute and think about the multiple levers that we have at our disposal from a digital shelf point of view right back into is our product content going to effectively support that conversion when they finally land there on the platform. We see a lot of brands locally thinking a lot about retail media and not thinking enough about what is that experience end-to-end once they reach that PDP or the product to convert.

Matt McGinley (36:32):
Multiple touch points to tick off and get right, but definitely a connected tissue behind it.

Teresa Sperti (36:37):
Yeah, fantastic. We've talked about so much so far. So before we wrap up, what I'd like to talk about is measurement because this is something that we see that many brands still struggle with locally around retail media more broadly. And we've talked a little bit about sales alone cannot really be the be-all and end-all from a measure of success point of view. If it is, you're probably setting yourself up a little bit for failure, particularly as the role of channel here is in part bringing in a new shopper, driving trial, which supports long-term growth for brands. So what should brands be considering when building a robust measurement framework to assess their investment and return from quick commerce, the channel itself and the associated media spend?

Matt McGinley (37:30):
Yeah, it's a very important question given that there's a lot of shiny toys out there in the ecosystem that sort of promise the sales growth and various things. I think it's important to obviously partner with companies that do have scale and footprint of understanding or truly understanding their customers to bake into that measurement framework. And so as an example, each day we see over 40 million trips globally and a trip can comprise of either a ride or offer, which is just phenomenal scale to think about of the actual moment that goes behind each of those individual trips. And so it's not just a digital proxy, but more information of how people actually move and transact. And so these signals from a measurement perspective give us that multidimensional picture of who your audience could be or is in that moment in time. And look, a single user journey can reveal many things like family trips with a car seat requests in the back, business travel to airports, frequent garlic source add-ons and weekend orders during game time as an example.

(38:40):
People don't fit into that one box, but the signals show that full

Teresa Sperti (38:43):
Picture

Matt McGinley (38:44):
If you'd like.

Teresa Sperti (38:45):
And they're intense signals that you won't often get through the retail. I mean that interesting one that you just shared around a car seat in the backseat, retail is kill to know that information if they're in the grocery and they're not buying nappies from them.

Matt McGinley (39:03):
It's an interesting touchpoint to think about how we actually show up if you're in the back of that Uber, what does that creative copy and message look like versus that young parent taking the business trip? We can see both and recognize both in real time there. And look, I think measurement is obviously key behind those first party data signals. So since launch of our ads platform, we've partnered with over 20 measurement providers, ranging everything from brand health, attention right through the sales outcomes that help reinforce that moment and pattern behind those signals and more coming very, very soon. So we're quite bullish on the measurement piece, not just measuring on platform success, but real world behavior and what's happening across a retailer or CPG's business in totality. So very keen to launch some of those initiatives soon. But I think it comes to measurement. My point of view here is, are we answering key use cases or questions off the back?

(40:08):
That's the fundamental human truth that we need to recognize with measurement framework. So are we driving new to brand sales? Are we retaining our loyal customers? Are we bringing back lapsed? Are we growing market share in a certain area? As long as we're answering some of those tent pole questions, I think measurement frameworking can marry up to that quite seamlessly with the right data and partnerships off the back, certainly.

Teresa Sperti (40:32):
That comes back to having clear objectives and goals from the outset in order to then tie the right measurement framework around it rather than trying to apply the same metrics across everything that we

Matt McGinley (40:45):
Do. Definitely. Yeah, definitely. And look, incrementality is a big one. I think everyone's trying to prove out incrementality certainly. And look, we're hearing from brands that are doing it themself on our platform since this is more of an anecdotal evidence here. They've done some studies on their side independently, but they're saying to us that almost 90% of the sales that are coming on our platform for their business is incremental to

Teresa Sperti (41:13):
Their

Matt McGinley (41:13):
Business.

Teresa Sperti (41:14):
Yes. Wow. Wow.

Matt McGinley (41:15):
So it's starting to take shape, that

Teresa Sperti (41:18):
Story.

Matt McGinley (41:19):
If you're

Teresa Sperti (41:19):
Not playing in quick commerce, it's a guarantee, but Uber's seeing up to 90% incremental sales. The reality is CPGs, FMCGs, it's a challenging time to drive growth and it's a costly time to drive growth. Quick commerce provides a new vehicle and avenue that if you're not doing it today within your organization as part of your growth strategy, maybe it's something you need to be considering and thinking about as a new growth lever.

Matt McGinley (41:51):
If you're wanting to reach new incremental customers, then it's the channel to start thinking about how to

Teresa Sperti (41:57):
Explore.

(41:57):
All right, Matt, we have covered so much in this conversation and I could probably sit here for another hour chatting, but I'm going to let you go. So I think it's been a really, really practical discussion. But before I do wrap up, for anyone who does want to do a bit of a deeper dive into some of the trends that we've discussed today, we've included a link to Uber's latest quick commerce trends report, and that's available in the show notes. And Matt, if our listeners would like to continue the conversation or connect with you about the quick commerce opportunity, where's the best place to find you?

Matt McGinley (42:33):
Yeah, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and I'm happy to take the conversation forward. But yeah, really enjoyed the conversation today,

Teresa Sperti (42:40):
Mate. It

Matt McGinley (42:40):
Was fun.

Teresa Sperti (42:42):
Me too. All right, so thank you so much for your time, Matt. And as always, a big thanks to everyone for tuning into Unpacking the Digital Shelfie APAC edition with me, Teresa Sperdi.