The first Deliveroo 'store' opens in Bristol today (May 26), with the courier app service promising it will speed up the time people wait for the groceries they just ordered.
The new facility is called a 'Deliveroo HOP', and will be based close to the city centre, meaning that 'tens of thousands of households' in Bristol will be near enough to be able to order groceries, according to Deliveroo.
Deliveroo launched the first of its own delivery-only grocery stores in London recently, and has now branched out to Bristol - which is one of the cities in the UK that orders the most on the app.
Revealed: The top ten most ordered items on Deliveroo in Bristol
The new supermarket-style service won't be physically open to regular customers, but will be a spot where Deliveroo riders can pick up grocery orders people have requested through the app. The firm said it's a delivery-only grocery store that enables consumers to order groceries to their doors in minutes. The service is available through the Deliveroo app and will use Deliveroo's existing network of riders to pick up and deliver groceries.
The facility, based in Oxford Street in St Philips, near Temple Meads station, will effectively be a mini distribution warehouse, with staff inside picking items off the shelves and preparing them for the Deliveroo riders who arrive at the pick-up spots to collect them - with much the same principle as the takeaway restaurant kitchens that have opened up in Bristol giving some of the big brand restaurants the opportunity to prepare food solely for the home delivery market.
Deliveroo has teamed up with Morrisons to supply the Deliveroo HOP - the app already has links with Morrisons, Co-op, Waitrose and Sainsbury's in Bristol. The firm celebrated its seventh anniversary of operating in Bristol earlier this month and revealed the top ten things people order on Deliveroo in the city. Nine of them were hot food items from Bristol's restaurants and takeaways, but the seventh most ordered item on Deliveroo was a bottle of semi-skimmed milk - a sign of a new shift towards 'right-now' supermarket orders.
Deliveroo said the creation of its own store would mean they could get things to customers much more rapidly - the firm is now in competition with new players in this particular market, like Getir and Dancy, as well as the crossover competitors from takeaway deliveries like UberEats and JustEat.
The service will run from 8am to midnight every day, and there will be 2,000 products available on the Deliveroo app, including Morrisons 'The Best' range of award-winning wines, ready meals and groceries as well as meat and fish from its Market Street counters.
"The prime location of the site means tens of thousands of households across the city will be able to benefit from even faster grocery delivery, with Deliveroo’s existing network of riders in Bristol enabling delivery straight to customers' doors in minutes," said a Deliveroo spokesperson.
"Deliveroo first launched Deliveroo HOP last year to complement the company's existing on-demand grocery service, which already delivers from approaching 6,000 partner grocery stores in the UK - including Morrisons, Co-op, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s in Bristol. Deliveroo data reveals that the top-selling grocery items across Bristol are milk, bananas, cucumber, raspberries and avocados," she added.
Carlo Mocci, Deliveroo's chief business officer in the UK and Ireland, said this was meeting increasing demand from people to order what they want and get it quickly. "People across the country are looking for ease in their daily lives, and Deliveroo’s ability to provide rapid grocery delivery in minutes is meeting that demand in Bristol. We are so excited by the continued growth of our grocery offerings, and have now taken our longstanding partnership with Morrisons to bring more choice and convenience to Bristol residents.”
And Hannah Horsfall, the head of wholesale at Morrisons, described the new concept as a 'key moment' in the evolution of shopping. "The launch of Deliveroo HOP in Bristol represents another key moment, enabling customers to choose from a wide selection of groceries from Morrisons and have them delivered by Deliveroo in minutes," she said.
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