Ocado is looking to launch an express delivery service, managing director of general merchandise relationships James Matthews has revealed.
The company is “experimenting” with speedier options than its same-day service, which can offer delivery by 4pm on orders placed before 11.30am, Matthews told the Internet Retailing Expo in Birmingham last week.
Ocado was considering the use of third parties to make express deliveries in local areas, he said, and would look at alternative transport methods to vans such as electric bikes.
Matthews stressed longer delivery times remained “the most popular option” for grocery customers, but said Ocado was nonetheless interested in one-hour delivery.
“It remains to be seen just how important it is to get groceries within an hour as opposed to four hours but we are experimenting with that,” he said.
In February, Ocado’s chief financial officer Duncan Tatton-Brown revealed the company was monitoring the trend for express grocery delivery. “I think today express delivery isn’t critical but in the future it may become critical,” he said. “We see that as an opportunity rather than a threat.”
No comments yet