McColl’s has formed a new partnership with Deliveroo to offer home delivery of goods from its convenience stores.
A range of daily essentials from over 120 McColl’s outlets will be available on-demand for the first time on the Deliveroo app. This will be expanded to cover 300 McColl’s stores in the near future.
The tie-up is aimed at helping customers, especially the elderly and vulnerable, access the groceries they need from the safety of their home during the coronavirus outbreak.
Deliveries will be made by Deliveroo riders in as little as 30 minutes and will be ‘contact-free’.
Jonathan Miller, Chief Executive of McColl’s, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Deliveroo at this important time. We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to get their daily essentials as they stay at home.”
Ajay Lakhwani, VP of new business at Deliveroo, added: “McColl’s has an excellent operational track record and together we can achieve national scale at pace. This is particularly important during COVID-19 when people are isolating and at home, especially the elderly and vulnerable. This partnership will help reach people right across the country.”
Deliveroo recently teamed up with BP petrol stations and Marks & Spencer to offer food deliveries for people stuck at home. Meanwhile, Uber Eats has linked up with Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Walkers and Pepsi to offer free delivery on orders from UK convenience stores operating on its platform.
Commenting on the latest move, GlobalData retail analyst Thomas Brereton said: “McColl’s partnership with Deliveroo is a natural move for a convenience operator under the strain of COVID-19. It follows in the footsteps of similar recent partnerships, such as M&S (also with Deliveroo) and Carrefour with Uber Eats, as grocers look to fulfil the higher demand for alternative fulfilment options across Europe.
“But this pandemic has likely only accelerated pre-existing plans from McColl’s to forge some such alliance. Given the existing partnerships between Deliveroo and Co-op and Uber Eats and Costcutter, it is a logical time for McColl’s (which has struggled to vie with rivals over recent years) to launch a similar option.
“However – as with all of these retailers – McColl’s must ensure that the integration between staff, store and Deliveroo driver is as harmonious as possible, avoiding the dedication of excessive staff resource to building the orders and store congestion in collecting them, particularly when stores are already stretched.”
NAM Implications:
- One more example of new types of relationship being forged in unprecedented times…
- Many of which will continue as part of the new ‘norm’.
- Build into your trade strategies now…
