Brief:

• Cargo, a startup that provides in-car commerce services to ride-hail drivers, announced a deal with person-to-person payment service Venmo to let passengers buy products in its product boxes through the mobile payment platform, according to a press release shared with Mobile Marketer.
• Passengers can also share posts of products they purchase through Cargo on their Venmo feed. The Cargo boxes include such items as RXBAR snack bars, Smartwater and Winky Lux Matcha Lip Balm. Venmo is available as a payment option through Cargo in New York, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.
• Passengers who want to buy products from Cargo can visit the company's mobile website with a smartphone, enter their driver's box code, select their desired items and choose Venmo at the checkout page. Once the vehicle is safely stopped, the driver gives the passengers the products from the Cargo display box.

Insight:

Cargo and Venmo appear well suited for each other, given the popularity of ride-hailing and P2P mobile payments among the millennial and Gen Z demographics that are typically early adopters of emerging mobile and social technology. Consumers that use their smartphones to request a ride on demand are likely open to the idea of purchasing snacks and other items on the go through the popular mobile payment platform. The partnership should help to reduce the friction of transactions by giving passengers another quick payment option while riding to a destination. Cargo completes a transaction every 5.39 seconds, and products reach 9 million passengers per month, Bloomberg reported, signaling the potential reach the new partnership could help spark across the country.

Cargo aims to provide ride-hail service drivers a way to earn extra income from passengers while giving consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies a chance to reach a captive audience of on-the-go consumers who may be likely to grab a quick snack or drink while heading to work or home. The company has steadily struck deals with major brands like Uber, Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Mars and Kellogg's to offer trusted products and to ramp up its brand credibility.

In June, Cargo partnered with Snapchat and SnackNation for its Los Angeles rollout. As part of the agreement, SnackNation provides data and guidance to help Cargo predict and source products that fit into a regional and seasonal merchandising strategy tailored to local rider preferences. Passengers in Cargo-equipped cars also can order products and snacks by using image-messaging app Snapchat to scan a Snapcode printed on a display box, further easing customers' purchasing journey and bridging the mobile and offline worlds.