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How to Navigate the Merchant Portal

Learn the basics of navigating the Merchant Portal and where to find the different sections you’ll need to manage your store.

16 min read
10/7/2023
How to use the Merchant Portal - Navigation

Whether it’s finding financial statements or updating your store’s information, the Merchant Portal has everything you need in order to best showcase your store on DoorDash to over 94% of the U.S. population, 80% of Australia’s population, and 75% of  Canada’s population. In this article and the video below, we’ll start with your DoorDash dashboard and then walk you through all the main sections of the Portal:

What is the Merchant Portal?

Dashboard

Once you’ve logged into the Merchant Portal, the first section you’ll see is Dashboard. In the left hand column, you can see a table of contents of all the sections within the Merchant Portal.

At the top of your DoorDash dashboard is your optimization score. This is a “health tracker” that helps you understand how your store is running and ways to improve your sales on DoorDash. You can learn more about your optimization score here.

On the main Dashboard page, you can scroll to find a store overview that includes:

  • Sales

  • Orders 

  • Average Ticket Size

When you scroll down the page, In the top-left drop-down menu, you can filter the information you see on the Dashboard by time.

Underneath this section you can see Insights & Actions and sort them by: 

  • All: See all suggestions we recommend for your store

  • Growth: Opportunities to grow your business

  • Tips: Suggestions to improve your store

  • Announcements: New features that DoorDash has launched to help your store sales

In the top-left drop-down menu, you can filter the information you see on the Dashboard by time.

If you scroll down you can view:

  • A graph overview or you can select to view the graph for individual products

  • Key Operation metrics: New, Occasional, Frequent and Total Customers

  • Metrics of Customers that are purchasing your products

On the left hand Dashboard, you can view different sections of the Merchant Portal.

Insights

In Insights, you can see Sales as well as Operations Quality.

Sales

In the Sales page, you can see Sales, Total Orders, Average Ticket Size, including a total overview of your sales as well as Top Opportunities to build your business. 

Operations Quality

This section shows you how good of an experience you are providing your customers. 

The first thing you’ll see is Areas requiring your attention. These metrics show areas where there is room for improvement.

By scrolling down you’ll go into Areas on track. This includes information on:

  • Wait time: Total amount of time Dashers wait for orders at your store.

  • Cancellations: Orders that were not prepared, picked up, or delivered.

  • Order accuracy: A measure of orders reported with missing or incorrect items.

  • Downtime:  A measure if the amount of time delivery is unavailable during business hours.

Reports

On the upper right blue button you can Create a Report. This feature enables you to build a report in two steps:

  1. Choose a report type

    • Sales

    • Operations

    • Financials

    • Marketing

  2. Customize your report

    • Choose when you receive a report between either Immediately or a Recurring Schedule.

    • Choose a time frame.

    • Choose to view either by Time, Store or Order

    • Choose a breakdown between month, week or day.

    • Compare a product and customer type to see how things have changed over time.

To get the most out of your sales data, head over to our article on reporting.

As you scroll down you’ll find the Product Mix, which shows your most popular items and total sales for each.

Customers

The Customer tab allows you to see Customer Insights and Ratings & Reviews.

Customer Feedback

In Customer Insights, you can have an overview of your customers. You can view what percentage of customers are New, Occasional and Frequent. You can also see where your customers are located to get a feel for what neighborhoods are ordering from you.

Ratings & Reviews

In the Ratings & Reviews tab, you can read reviews from customers, respond to customers, as well as see ratings during a specific time or your lifetime rating. 

If you want to learn more about viewing and improving your restaurant reviews, head over to our article on customer reviews.

Orders

This tab enables you to track orders from every channel in real-time including:

  • Active: Orders you are currently fulfilling.

  • Scheduled: Orders that haven’t occurred yet, but were requested in advance by customers.

  • History: A list of all your past orders.

Marketing

In the Marketing tab, you can run a campaign such as:

  • Sponsored Listings: Ads that are featured in highly visible places on the DoorDash app, like the homepage and search results.

  • New Customer Promotions: Drive sales by enticing customers with a discount, free delivery, free or discounted items, and more.

Campaign reporting

When you’re running a DoorDash promotion you can view metrics on how your marketing campaign is doing.

If you want to learn more marketing tips, head over to our article on How to attract new customers.

In the Menu Manager tab, you can see an overview of your menu(s). Your menu is separated into the different categories you select. The most popular categories are:

  • Appetizers

  • Entrees

  • Dessert

  • Beverages

Menu Performance

In this subsection, you can view your menu performance and discover opportunities to increase sales. As you scroll down you’ll find the Product Mix, which shows your most popular items and total sales for each.

In this section you can make DoorDash menu updates:

Store Availability

Here you can check your store status, update store hours, or add special hours and closures.

Regular Menu hours

You can have multiple menus in this section such as breakfast and lunch or an all-day menu and adjust the specific times for each, so customers can know what they can order and when.

Special closures/hours

This section enables you to select specific times your business will operate during holidays. Click Add New to add a closure date, or View History to see when you have closed in the past.  

If you need to immediately stop new orders from coming in, click the red Pause Store button at the top of the page. 


If you want to learn more, head over to our article on store essentials, where you can learn more about adding all necessary details to your store.

Financials

In the Financials tab, you can see Orders Breakdown, Payouts and Statements.

Orders breakdown

This section gives you insights into the total number of orders and estimated payout during a specific period of time, which you can input into the fields at the top.

Note, these are estimates to provide a snapshot of your business during a specific period of time.

Payouts

This section gives you the finalized payment data for your scheduled payouts and the finalized order level detail included in the payout. This should be the data used when you are conducting your regular financial reconciliation. You can select a period of time from the drop-down menu to view your payouts.

Statements

These are your monthly statements based on your business activity. Monthly statements are available by the 5th day of each month.

To learn more, check out our article on [insert payouts link when it’s live].

Request a Delivery

Here you can schedule a Dasher to deliver an order. On this page you can enter the customer details as well as any order details your Dasher may need to accurately pick up an order. This is also where your staff can enter orders that have been taken over the phone or catering orders.

Settings

Underneath Settings, there are a number of tabs. You can change your Account Settings, Store Settings, Store Communications, Bank Account and you can Manage Users

Account Settings

Here you can input and key information that will help run your store smoothly, such as:

  • Set Menu Pickup and Delivery Rate

  • Create or manage a PIN for Tablet Access

  • Add Dasher Pickup Instructions that all Dashers can see when picking up orders. You can also add Customer Pickup Instructions or include an option for customers to leave Staff Tips for Pickup Orders.

  • Under Your Plan you can see specifics on DoorDash and Caviar Marketplace including Delivery Commission Rate, Pickup Commission Rate, if you have DashPass, as well as if you pay nothing because you received at least 20 orders per month. 

  • Revise Other Rates & Fees and have an option to have daily payouts.

Store Settings

Under Store Settings, add your store name, address, phone number, website, a description of your store and as well as your store logo and header images. As something to keep in mind: menus with header images and logos get up to 50% (header) and 23% (logo) more monthly sales than restaurants without these branding elements. They also qualify for the Most Loved program, which can help you gain visibility.

Here you can find out more about setting up your store.

Manage Users

Here you can edit what your staff have access to in the Merchant Portal

  1. In the Settings section of the Merchant Portal, click on Manage Users.

  2. Click on + Add User.

  3. Add or manage employees and store managers. Select one of the following options:

  • Business Admin

  • Store Manager

  • Store Operator

Read our article on logging into the Merchant Portal to find out more.

Store Communications

Here you can manage your preferences around emails about your store, such as: 

  • Important Alerts: If you will receive alerts on store deactivations and who will receive the alerts.

  • Performance Reporting: if you would like to receive alerts on your stores performance and operational efficiency, as well as the frequency you receive these alerts and who will receive them.

Bank Account

Here you will find a summary of your Banking Information. In this section, you can update key banking information such as:

  • Company name

  • Bank account details 

  • Representative

Note: banking information will vary depending on your region.

You can also see if you’re verified to receive orders and payments from DoorDash.

Add DoorDash Solutions

Here you can learn about all the ways that DoorDash can help you increase your sales as well as grow your business. 

The DoorDash Merchant Suite showcases all the products available to small and medium-sized businesses in a simple self-serve fashion. The suite puts restaurants’ needs first, and was built as a direct result of listening to partner feedback. Whether you want to Grow Online, Attract New Customers, Increase Order Size & Volume, or Optimize Current Business – you can easily identify and access the unique set of DoorDash tools that can help you achieve your goals and succeed off-premise.

To learn more about specific options, head over to how to grow with the Merchant Suite.

Support

On this page you can reach out to support

Point of Sale

If you have a point of sale integration system you can configure it or add your menu on this page. To see if we integrate with your point of sale system, head over to our page on integrations and learn how to connect your POS system.

DoorDash Merchant Portal FAQ

Why is my Portal slightly different from the above?

We customize the Portal to your needs and are committed to continually improving your experience. Depending on your account type and product usage, you might see a slightly different view.

How can I give my team access to the Merchant Portal?

You can add your team to the Merchant Portal and set user permissions. If your team can’t see a specific section of the Portal, it may be due to their user account settings. Here is where you can learn about adding and adjusting user settings.

We hope this helped you understand your options in the Merchant Portal as well as how to navigate from your DoorDash dashboard to all the various sections of the Portal.

As a next step, here’s how to add your team to the Merchant Portal.

Author

Merchant Learning

Merchant Learning