The former chief executive of Sainsbury's has backed a Dundee-based scale-up to win the delivery wars in the UK.
Justin King - who led the supermarket for a decade, alongside senior roles at Asda and Marks & Spencer - began backing the Snappy Group after meeting its founders soon after the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
"A colleague of mine had become an investor via Kelvin Capital and he recommended them, so I spent a day with Mike and Alan and was blown away by what I saw," he told Insider.
Snappy Shopper operates by offering convenience stores the technology platform to let customers order online for home delivery.
"It fitted with my view of the world, the future is multi-channel, then omni-channel, so everyone gets excited when new channel ideas come up, but the likes of Gorillas and Getir are essentially mono-channel.
"What I liked about Snappy was that it used existing infrastructure - at Sainsbury's we developed delivery using our store network, which proved to be the winning formula - so for me that was crucial," he continued, adding: "What better local distribution hubs than corner shops?"
King argued that they understand their local area better than anyone else, with existing customer relationships and capital already invested - something that has been the sticking point for many start-ups.
Instead, Snappy's latest financials show growth of more than 50% year-on-year, fulfilling over 5.5 million orders during the last 12 months, from its network of more than 1,800 merchants.
Currently, convenience stores signed up to the service have an average basket size of £26, versus just £7 in-store.
Snappy - alongside many rival delivery apps - expanded rapidly during the pandemic, and while King admits that the group is now aiming for more steady growth, he stated: "Some of the pure-play operators have discovered this market is not quite what they though it would be during the last few years, with major retrenchment back to major city hubs - whereas Snappy keeps on expanding regionally."
In fact, Snappy purposefully decided to leave London until last, building its presence across Scotland and working its way down into England and Wales via partnership agreements with regional branches of Co-op, Nisa and Spar.
Snappy does not claim to be quicker than its rivals, preferring to offer a one-hour guarantee, as well as charging up front to get groceries to the door, rather than offering free deliveries.
King said that others operating "dark store models" hide the cost of delivery in their pricing, which may have worked during the pandemic, but as the cost-of-living crisis bites, is increasingly unpopular.
"We say 'you pay the same price that's on the shelf' plus and honest delivery charge - that transparency seems to be working for us," he added.
As well being an investor, King operates in an advisory capacity for Snappy. "I speak to Mike most weeks, occasionally helping out with the board and with introductions to potential customers."
Chief executive and founder Mike Callachan said: "Snappy Group’s results are a clear demonstration of the power of our technology enabling local retailers to participate in the growing arena of 'q-commerce'.
"Our repeated success has caught the eye of some of the industry’s top talent, who have now joined our leadership team as we embark on the next phase of our journey.
"Our ambition in the year ahead is to continue to set new records with a focus on growing UK coverage, expanding our digital high street marketplace beyond convenience, piloting a white label of our platform outside the UK and continuing to develop the rich suite of e-commerce and marketing enablement tools that comprise our core offering to local merchants."
Founded in 2017, the group also includes Hungrrr, a similar white label solution for the hospitality industry, which lets independent merchants and venues adopt technology to fulfil click+collect, delivery and table service through a mobile app.
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