By Iminza Keboge
Published September 8, 2022
US taxi service provider Uber has announced new products and features focused on travel, safety and delivery across four towns in Kenya.
Uber says its service in Eldoret, Nakuru and Naivasha shall give more drivers earning opportunities and more riders an affordable, convenient, and reliable travel at the tap of a button.
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Uber says its launch of UberXL in Nairobi provides seating for up to 6 people and extra luggage and is great for airport trips and even for groups who are making a business trip.
“To help reduce costs for riders and increase demand for drivers, Uber is rolling out ChapChap Share, a shared rides option that gives up to 30% of savings on trip fares, when a rider is paired with a co-rider,” Uber says in a statement released on September 6.
Imran Manji, Head of Uber in East Africa, says, “We are committed to East Africa, a key contributor to the growth of our business in Sub-Saharan Africa. We’re passionate about helping people travel and discover their city with ease and helping drivers increase earning opportunities.”
Uber says it is ‘raising the bar on safety and is rolling out a new safety feature, Safety Check Up’, across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to ‘encourage riders to complete their safety profile by turning on and utilising the available features such as Trusted Contacts, PIN verification and RideCheck’.
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Uber Eats continues to push beyond boundaries with the adoption of the growing trend of dark stores, which gives non-traditional merchants opportunities to tap into unchartered markets that they wouldn’t have easily accessed.
Kui Mbugua, General Manager for Uber Eats Kenya says, ‘With a 67% year on year growth of subscriptions on Eats, we are humbled and encouraged by the expansion that we have seen in South Africa and Kenya.
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Uber Eats is rolling out new features across Sub-Saharan Africa such as Item Replacements, which allows consumers to choose the next best item if the original item is out of stock and Safety Age Verification for customers to scan their IDs to confirm they are of legal age to purchase alcohol and pharmacy.
Below is an overview of the suite of products to be launched on Uber Eats in SSA:
- Item Replacements allows consumers to select the next available item on the app if their preferred item is out of stock. The feature also allows for refund, if preferred
- Item Score Availability indicates if an item is likely to be out of stock soon so customers have the option to purchase another, similar item, that is more likely to be in-stock
- Vertical Landing Pages is an in-app landing page that enables customers to easily find, reorder and discover the supermarket items they love
- Reliable Scheduling makes placing and modifying scheduled orders intuitive and seamless across the end to end ordering process
- Price Item by Weight enables the listing (and purchase) of items like fresh produce, meats, and prepared foods priced by weight for better order accuracy and
- Safety Age Verification is a quick and reliable ID barcode scanner to verify if the consumer is of legal age to purchase alcohol or restricted pharmacy items.
