Waitrose & Partners is to extend its Waitrose Rapid Delivery trial outside London for the first time following its success in the capital.
The service, which enables customers to have up to 25 grocery items from a choice of more than 2,000 products, delivered to their home or office, within two hours or less or on the same day, will be available in both Bath and Hove from the 8 and 15 July,respectively.
The retailer is also adding 58 London postcodes in areas, including Battersea, High Street Kensington, Bayswater, Victoria and Kingston.
Rapid launched in September 2018after Waitrose & Partners teamed up with On the dot, the last mile retail delivery startup*. Since the launch, the retailer has increased the number of postcodes its available in from eight to 98, giving it the potential to reach up to 1.2 million households, and average weekly orders have doubled.
Earlier this year, the retailer announced that it had added freshly made sushi to the range of products available through the service to become the only national supermarket to currently offer made-to-order sushi with same-day delivery.
Nicola Waller, Head of Business Development at Waitrose & Partners, says: “Waitrose Rapid Delivery has had a really encouraging start, allowing us to provide even greater convenience and flexibility to work around shoppers’ busy lifestyles. There is a growing number of customers who want to get their shopping as and when they want it which gives us a great opportunity to continue testing the appetite for the service in new locations both inside and outside of London.”
Santosh Sahu, CEO at On the dot, adds: “The huge popularity and take-up of the service echoes what we’re seeing across the grocery market – rapid and convenient delivery has become a key pillar in a shopper’s experience of a brand. Shoppers now expect a range of delivery options at the checkout – retailers like Waitrose recognise this and are always looking for new ways to make it easier to shop with them.”
Amazon and Morrison’s join the party
Coincidentally, Amazon and Morrison’s have also announced that they are to extend their Amazon at Morrison’s same-day delivery service across the UK.
The service, currently available to Amazon’s Prime Now customers in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and parts of London, will be rolled out to Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield and Portsmouth this year. More cities will be added next year, the companies say.
The service allows customers to order a full Morrisons shop online, which is then picked at a local store, and delivered by Amazon, with an option for delivery within one hour of the order being placed in some locations.
Doug Gurr, Amazon UK Country Manager, says: “We have greatly valued our relationship with Morrisons since the launch of the Morrisons store on Prime Now in the UK in 2016 and expanding this relationship enables us to offer Morrisons high quality grocery selection to even more Prime members. We are committed to growing our grocery business so that we can continue to deliver what we know our customers will always care about – low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery – and our relationship with Morrisons is an important part of that long-term growth. With the Morrisons store on Prime Now, many Prime members can do their full weekly grocery shop online through Prime Now with ultra-fast same day delivery.”
David Potts, Morrisons Chief Executive, adds: “Morrisons conveniently located local supermarkets and Amazon’s very popular website and customer offer are an ideal combination, offering ultra-fast same day grocery home delivery for customers in and around cities across Britain. Amazon has been a valued partner of Morrisons for over three years, and we are pleased to be expanding our relationship together. Continuing to partner with the best digital operators such as Amazon is a significant, capital light growth opportunity for Morrisons.”
