Aldi’s rollout of online delivery with Instacart in the US points to how the retailer is likely to launch a similar service in the UK, according to analysts.
The discounter could copy the model by partnering with one of several UK startups offering Instacart-style same-day delivery, analysts said.
Among those are On the Dot, which last week began performing rapid deliveries for Waitrose in eight postcode areas in London.
Others include Home Run, delivering for branches of Tesco, M&S, Waitrose and Whole Foods in London, and Quiqup, behind the London-only one-hour Tesco Now service.
M&S also partners with last-mile delivery firm Gophr in London while Sainsbury’s provides its Chop Chop rapid delivery through courier Stuart.
Meanwhile The Grocer revealed this week that Lidl Ireland had launched a service in Dublin with third-party rapid grocery delivery specialist Buymie.
Aldi announced last week that an Instacart grocery delivery partnership which began last year was to be expanded from four cities to 35 states by the end of November. Customers are able to order Aldi groceries including ambient, chilled and frozen food for delivery in as little as an hour on Instacart’s website.
Aldi UK currently only sells general merchandise ‘Specialbuys’ and wines and spirits online for delivery.
“The Aldi UK team is probably regularly asking their US counterparts about the Instacart lessons since it provides a total assortment solution for home shopping and the UK still operates an approach where not everything they put in stores is available online,” said Ray Gaul, senior vice president of retail insights at Kantar Consulting.
He added: “On the Instacart model and whether it could work in the UK, the answer is yes. Home Run is already making progress with this model in the UK.”
Bryan Roberts, global insights director at TCC Global, said: “They’d probably adopt a similar third-party partnership approach as it represents low risk and zero capex. Someone like Quiqup could fit the bill.”
Third-party delivery companies such as Home Run typically provide store pickers as well as couriers.
“Using assistants who pick up groceries for consumers and deliver them at the consumer’s expense seems to be a low-risk and easy-to-execute model for Aldi, especially if it unlocks growth with shoppers that normally would not take the time to visit,” said Gaul.
Paul Yewman, CEO of last-mile navigation specialist PostTag, said: “With Tesco working with Quiqup, Sainsbury’s with Stuart, M&S with Gophr and now Waitrose with On the Dot, there is a natural play for Aldi to try a limited area trial with rapid delivery in the UK.”
No comments yet