KOLKATA: Online food delivery app, Uber Eats on Tuesday launched a new interactive feature on its app- ‘Merchant Stories’ which allows merchant partners to connect directly with their eaters.

The new feature developed by the company's Hyderabad based engineering team helps eaters seamlessly discover the latest offerings from their favourite restaurants, while assisting Uber merchants to display their delicacies.

Elaborating on the idea behind the launch, the company cited a consumer survey which showed people felt more comfortable making food decisions based on photos, and were more likely to place an order when they could see what their chosen food or beverage looked like. In early testing, 13 per cent of people who clicked through a restaurant’s story placed an order to that restaurant in the same session, it said on Tuesday.

This feature has so far only been rolled out in the US and Canada and reinforces the ‘Make in India for the World’ vision of India’s tech centers, it added.

Eats Engineering site lead Jaiteerth Patwari said: “We understand a picture is worth a thousand words, and that it’s much easier to order an item when you can see what it looks like. We heard feedback from partners who felt they needed to build a direct communication channel with their consumers, and our team worked to build a solution that addressed their unique needs.”

Through this innovation, merchants can now sign up for the ‘Merchant Stories’ feature to post regular updates. They can upload photos and add text to tell their customers about special deals, menu changes, new services, or seasonal promotions.

The Eats Engineering team has led several global innovations over the past year including integrating leading digital wallets in Japan and Belgium during 2020, and connecting more restaurant partners to consumers when cities were in lockdown. The team also led the tech backend for a new line of business -- prescription delivery in the US.