DoorDash says Costco members can now order same-day delivery from every US Costco store, a day after Uber expanded its Costco deliveries from 17 to 47 US states
DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. are expanding their delivery partnership with Costco Wholesale Corp. …
Context & Ripple Effects
DoorDash has been building grocery capacity since its 2020 grocery-delivery launch, while Uber expanded grocery delivery across more than 400 US cities in 2021. Costco, meanwhile, extended its Instacart relationship to white-label delivery in Spain and France in 2026, showing that its digital grocery strategy is not tied to a single consumer-facing delivery channel.
The paired US expansions put DoorDash and Uber in broader direct competition for Costco orders, while Costco gains wider same-day reach through multiple delivery platforms.
First-order effects
- Costco members gain same-day ordering through DoorDash at every US warehouse, while Uber's Costco delivery footprint rises from 17 to 47 states.
- DoorDash and Uber each gain a larger Costco order flow to serve, making delivery execution and customer experience more consequential to their retail partnerships.
Second-order effects
- Instacart faces sharper competition for Costco-related delivery demand after building its own Costco-adjacent services, including prescription delivery from nearly 200 Costco locations and white-label grocery delivery abroad.
- Costco can compare delivery coverage and service performance across DoorDash, Uber, and Instacart rather than relying on a single platform relationship.
Third-order effects
- If large retailers continue distributing orders across competing delivery networks, grocery delivery platforms will compete increasingly on retailer integration and geographic coverage, not only consumer app demand.
- Multi-platform fulfillment gives retailers more leverage in delivery-partner negotiations, while making exclusive access to major chains less durable for any one provider.
The trend: US grocery delivery is shifting toward retailer-led, multi-platform distribution in which DoorDash, Uber, and Instacart compete to provide the underlying fulfillment reach.