London, 30 September 2021: Deliveroo is taking its first step into rapid grocery delivery, launching a new service in partnership with Morrisons called Deliveroo Hop. The service includes the launch of a new delivery-only - ‘dark store’ - in London, and will be available to residents in and around Battersea and Vauxhall in South West London within 10 minutes.
The move comes amid the phenomenal growth of app-based ultra-rapid delivery startups, like Getir, Zapp, Gorillas and Weezy and the maturing of Q commerce.
Commenting on the announcement, Florence Wright, Senior Retail Insight Analyst at Edge by Ascential, said:
“Deliveroo Hop will enable shoppers in South-West London to select groceries from a range of up to 2,000 items, including own-label products from Morrisons, for delivery in as little as 10 minutes. The new rapid delivery service builds on Deliveroo’s existing grocery offer, which has grown to cover more than 4,600 grocery stores in the UK, including 320 Morrisons stores, but it’s also a significant step in the journey of Deliveroo - from delivery intermediary to retailer.
Delivery-only dark stores will be used to pick and pack shoppers’ orders, using a similar approach to the emerging rapid delivery start-ups such as Getir and Gorillas. However, Deliveroo will arrive on the rapid delivery scene with considerable experience in last mile optimization and logistics, as well as a pre-existing user base of more than 6 million customers. With increased capital since its IPO, and the expertise of running its own dark kitchens, it is well placed to compete with these newer players.
This partnership shows how rapid delivery is becoming table stakes for grocery businesses in major markets even though this sector didn’t really exist at the start of the year. Nine months later, this is a multibillion dollar industry that has already been the focus of takeover activity and strategic investments - London-based Dija was acquired by US firm GoPuff in the summer, while Carrefour has recently taken a minority stake in Cajoo.
An important measure of sustainable success in this sector is scale and Deliveroo has that - compared to its smaller rivals. Deliveroo is already a heavyweight in the on-demand delivery market, and its proposition is further strengthened by its long-term partnership with Morrisons. It's, therefore, no surprise that it has partnered with Morrisons in its first foray into rapid delivery.
It’s also important to note that Amazon owns an 11.5% share in Deliveroo and are building a relationship with them giving prime members free Deliveroo Plus. The use of dark stores will enable Deliveroo to compete with even faster timeframes. The move therefore is set to make waves.”
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