Store Visit: GoPuff

I was fortunate to get a tour of the GoPuff location at 1 York Street, which has a retail space and an MFC. Here’s what I learned!

The footage of this location is ~4,900 sqft, ~4,500 sqft for the MFC and ~400 sqft for retail. The retail space includes the ovens for GoPuff Kitchens. Going forward, most of the GoPuffs will have a retail space in NYC, but kitchens will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

GoPuff Kitchens came from consumer demand. Consumers expected GoPuff to deliver hot food, so it’s meeting that demand.

For this MFC, roughly 50% of orders come in on the weekends (Fri-Sun). Just over 50% of them occur between 6pm to 1am which is reflective of GoPuff capitalizing on new shopping windows. The core customer is 25 to 35 but the range is extending to older consumers.

Customers using GoPuff for the for the first time typically come for snacks and drinks, and quickly discover that other product categories are available, like pet, baby and cleaning supplies.

As customers evolve with GoPuff, they explore and purchase from more categories, increasing their loyalty and frequency. To capitalize on this behavior, GoPuff has expanded into new categories such as alcohol, kitchen, and grocery.

Another loyalty indicator is how many addresses are associated with the account. People send food to others, send gifts, and use the service while traveling, etc.

At this MFC, people are ordering 2.5 to 3.0 times per month. The basket size is $35— a metric that has steadily increased across the GoPuff network as it has elevated and expanded its assortment.

Logistics is critical. The rideOS acquisition in 2021 automated processes in the MFCs and on the road. From receiving an order to having it picked, packed, and ready for a driver takes under 4 minutes. Drive time is the longest part of the process and the most unpredictable due to traffic and weather.

While customers are excited by the speed of GoPuff’s delivery, the consistency of delivery time over multiple orders is key. The field team strives to consistently deliver orders to customers and have a 26-minute average delivery time at this MFC.

The MFC locations are determined by population density, app downloads and location of other MFCs. ~80% of the assortment starts off the same in every MFC and is adjusted as the MFC ramps up to meet consumer preferences.

One of the perks for brands to work with GoPuff is the uniqueness of their ad platform. GoPuff understands their consumer behavior and can use that knowledge to help brands refine their ad campaigns. It also offers closed loop reporting on samples. It will report back to the brand over time to see what customer purchases were after the sample.