Dunkin’ Donuts Partners With Waze App
By Jackson Lewis on Apr. 11, 2017PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Waze, the community-driven directions app, has partnered with Dunkin’ Donuts to offer order-ahead capabilities.
This means that Waze users who are members of Dunkin’s loyalty program can place an order for pickup at any nearby Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant whenever using the app. For instance, if a user decides he wants to stop for coffee on their way to work, he can place his order without leaving the Waze app. Once the order is placed, Waze points the user in the direction of the Dunkin’ Donuts location from which the driver ordered.
Plenty of other food delivery and ordering services have already partnered with quick-service restaurants such as Dunkin’ Donuts, but this announcement is important because it signals a focus from Waze on order-ahead capabilities that convenience stores could potentially participate in.
Read on for three implications of Waze’s Dunkin’ Donuts partnership for c-stores …
Just the beginning
The app’s order-ahead option with the coffee and doughnut chain is a test for Waze. If it goes well, Waze plans to partner similarly with other businesses. Jordan Grossman, the head of Waze’s business partnerships in North America, said that Waze wants to help connect drivers to just about anything that can be ordered ahead for pickup. This could include anything from ordering pizza and reserving parking spaces to filling prescriptions and ordering groceries.
This vision could provide the c-store industry with an opportunity to compete directly with restaurants and other businesses in the order-ahead game. Since many c-stores serve as both restaurants and retail space, the industry could provide a wide variety of order-ahead services and products. Who else could offer on-the-go car-wash booking and sandwich ordering simultaneously?
Ad of the deal
Instead of earning commission from Dunkin’ Donuts sales made through the app, Waze is profiting from the partnership through increased ad spending from Dunkin’. Neither company has disclosed the exact amount of the new ad spending agreement.
The details of the agreement are important because it illustrates Waze’s focus on ads and ad spending rather than taking a cut of sales or adding a surcharge. It’s possible that Waze could use this model for their agreements going forward. It also bears mentioning that Google, which owns Waze, collects the vast majority of its revenue through its own advertising.
Waze of the future
When Waze first made its appearance, it looked like most other direction apps, albeit with community-driven data, but there could be bigger things on the app’s horizon.
For starters, Waze now offers a carpool feature in select markets that pays drivers to pick up passengers headed in the same direction, potentially pulling riders away from Uber and Lyft. Add order-ahead capabilities to that, and Waze begins to look more like a jack-of-all-trades travel app than just a tool for smart directions.
The app is also growing its following in addition to its number of functions. Those who use Waze and similar apps like GasBuddy are in the minority, but of those who use apps of this kind, 23% choose Waze, making it the third most-used fueling app behind GasBuddy and retailer-branded apps. Kay-Tee Olds, also known as "The Mobile Contessa,"said at CSP’s recent Loyalty Forum in Chicago that Waze is the largest GPS player in major cities and suggested that retailers should start advertising through the app fast.
What Waze will do with its new capabilities and following remains to be seen, but it will continue to affect the c-store industry and beyond.