Uber to launch new merchant delivery app: Report

Last year, Uber started using its stable of cars and drivers for deliveries of goods. Though some of its experiments worked out, like its food delivery service UberEATS, but at the same time others did not, like its same-day household goods delivery service, called UberESSENTIALS.

Besides all these, the company also has a package delivery service called UberRUSH, which it has sometimes used in teaming up with retailers.

All of that has seemingly been a prelude to its big play, which has apparently been revealed in a report from TechCrunch on Tuesday.

The site gained access to the documents which showed that Uber has been getting ready to launch a new merchant delivery program, with the company going to enter into partnerships with retailers to deliver their goods.

If this report gets confirmation then this is going to be big as more than 400 merchants either in talks, or already testing it out, including Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany's, Cohen's Fashion Optical and Hugo Boss.

It has been reported that Uber has also teamed up with mobile shopping app Spring for testing the platform with a limited set of brands that included illesteva, Bing Bang Jewelry, Phyllis + Rosie, Mack Weldon, Jinsoon, Industry Standard, Outdoor Voices and Negative Underwear.

An Uber spokesperson said, "Experimenting and finding new, creative ways for the Uber app to provide even greater value to our riders and driver partners is a way of life at Uber. We have been piloting UberRUSH with multiple retailers for the last year".

However, TechCrunch said that this is not just another experiment. Actually, Uber has in fact built a separate app that is focused solely on merchant deliveries, which Uber drivers will be using in taking orders.

TechCrunch wrote that eventually Uber drivers will be able to take both human passengers and Uber Merchant orders at the same time through an intelligent routing system, all from a single driver-side app.