Waitrose has announced that it is expanding its on-demand grocery trial with Deliveroo to 25 more locations, taking the total to 30 and growing its reach to 3.1 million households.
The retailer has also added 100 products to the range, meaning Deliveroo customers can now choose from more than 650 items.
The original trial launched in September with Waitrose saying it had seen strong demand for the service with half of the orders being made by repeat customers.
The extended trial is set to continue until the end of November when a decision will be taken on whether to roll-out the service further.
The retailer also has its own two-hour home delivery service, Waitrose Rapid, which now has over 37,000 customers. Its full-shop online grocery service now offers over 190,000 weekly slots, compared to 55,000 before the pandemic, with plans underway to increase capacity to 250,000 weekly slots.
James Bailey, Executive Director for Waitrose, stated that trial with Deliveroo had made a promising start with it attracting new customers to the retailer and contributing to sales growth in all of the stores where it was up and running.
He added: “We know that our customers are continually looking for more convenience and flexibility and, at the six shops so far, they are really appreciating the chance to get what they need when they need it. Expanding the trial will test the potential for an on-demand service in a much broader range of locations.”
NAM Implications:
- i.e. Waitrose need the service, Deliveroo need the coverage.
- Anticipate a 10% roll-out.
- A no-brainer.
