DoorDash Launches AI Tools to Accelerate Merchant Onboarding
DoorDash introduces new AI-powered tools to help merchants streamline onboarding, enhance menu photography, and grow direct ordering channels efficiently.
Key Takeaways
- Reduces operational friction for small business owners by automating menu setup, marketing, and visual content creation.
- Empowers merchants to maintain a professional digital presence across multiple channels using AI-driven photo and website tools.
- Enables data-driven growth through integrated performance metrics and automated, occasion-based marketing campaigns.
DoorDash has unveiled a new suite of AI-driven tools designed to streamline the merchant onboarding process, improve operational efficiency, and support business growth across multiple sales channels. By automating manual tasks and providing advanced content creation capabilities, these updates aim to reduce complexity for business owners, allowing them to focus on food quality and customer experience.
Streamlining Onboarding and Visual Content
The new self-serve onboarding experience utilizes AI to help merchants launch their presence on the platform more than 35% faster. By pulling information such as store hours, photos, and menu items directly from a merchant’s existing online presence, the system transforms a traditionally fragmented process into an intuitive, guided setup.
To help merchants better showcase their offerings, DoorDash has also introduced a Video Library. This centralized hub within the Merchant Portal allows eligible businesses to upload and manage video content that appears across the DoorDash app. Merchants can tag specific menu items within these videos, enabling customers to order directly from the footage while providing owners with performance metrics like views and new customer acquisition data.
Professional-Grade Photo Enhancement
DoorDash is expanding its AI-powered photo enhancement capabilities, making professional-grade editing tools available to all merchants through a unified experience on web, Android, and iOS. These tools include three distinct modes: AI Retouch, which cleans up backgrounds and optimizes lighting; AI Replate, which elevates food presentation by matching dishes with appropriate dinnerware; and a style-matching feature that allows merchants to apply consistent lighting and aesthetic styles across their entire menu. Merchants can download these enhanced images to maintain a cohesive visual presence across all their digital channels.
Scaling Direct Ordering and Marketing
Enhancements to the DoorDash Commerce Platform are designed to help merchants grow their own direct ordering channels with less manual effort. AI-Powered Websites allow merchants to launch branded, SEO-optimized sites in minutes by leveraging existing menu and branding data, a feature that has seen average order conversion rates of nearly 10%.
Furthermore, the platform now offers AI-Powered Marketer and Occasions-Based Campaigns. These tools automate email outreach and content generation, allowing merchants to schedule marketing campaigns around national and local events without building them from scratch. By integrating these AI solutions, DoorDash aims to help merchants save time on administrative tasks while driving repeat orders and stronger performance across their preferred business channels.