Asda is launching a one-hour grocery delivery service, which allows users to communicate directly with the ‘personal shopper’ picking their orders.
The supermarket has partnered with Buymie on the trial, and will offer the service in selected postcodes within a three-mile radius of 10 Asda stores in Leeds and Bristol.
In Leeds, Asda’s full online range will be available on a new ‘Asda Express powered by Buymie’ app, with items picked, packed and delivered exclusively by Buymie’s network of personal shoppers. In Bristol, shoppers will use Buymie’s own app to make orders.
Both apps give Asda customers the ability to submit preferences and “discuss their requests – including the type of substitutes they would accept, if their original choice is unavailable” Buymie said.
A request from the customer can be added to every item in the order, for example asking that bananas not be green or not to substitute brown bread for white.
“The hardest part for the online market to live up to is customers feeling items won’t be picked as good as they would pick them,” Buymie CEO and co-founder Devan Hughes told The Grocer.
“When a [Buymie] personal shopper is in store there’s one stakeholder responsible for that customer order and experience; they’re picking, packing, prepping and delivering for customers. So there’s no break in custody, there’s not multiple parties involved. It’s one consistent supply chain, and that leads to a much higher level of service,” Hughes said.
There is no maximum basket size, and delivery fees will range from £3.49 to £4.99. For baskets under £30 a small basket fee of £3 is incurred, and a flat £1 processing fee applies to all orders.
To mark the launch, for a limited time, the delivery fee on orders over £50 will be waived.
“As we look to further expand the number of convenient delivery options we offer, we know that customers are increasingly looking for a more personalised service,” said Simon Gregg, senior vice president of ecommerce at Asda. “The trial in Leeds and Bristol will give access to our full online range and a ‘personal shopper’ experience for bigger basket shops through Buymie’s interactive platform.”
The trial – which will last for three months – involves no additional infrastructure or processes for the supermarket.
“By partnering with Buymie we are able to offer express delivery in more locations more quickly, without the need to implement new technology, infrastructure or cause disruption to our store teams,” Gregg said.
Buymie arrived in the UK in May 2020, in partnership with Co-op. It later listed Asda and Tesco products on its app, but without any involvement from those supermarkets.
“We’ve now formalised the relationship with Asda, we’ve built some deep integrations with them as a business, and jointly created an entirely new offering for Asda,” Hughes explained.
Buymie will create 60 new jobs across both Leeds and Bristol as a result of the Asda partnership, “with the potential to create more if there is demand for the service” it said.
The ‘powered by Buymie’ offering joins a slew of fast deliver options available at Asda. Last summer, a “super speedy” service was launched from three Asda stores giving customers the option to shop Asda’s full online range of more than 30,000 grocery products for delivery in one hour. The service was extended across 91 more stores after the trial “exceeded expectations”.
The supermarket has also extended its Uber Eats partnership from 200 to more than 300 stores. In January Asda began offering a range of 1,000 groceries from five stores via Just Eat’s app and website, in what the delivery company has called its “first tie-up with a major UK grocer”.
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