Co-op is fulfilling more orders than any other supermarket across all of the major delivery aggregator apps, new research has revealed.
The convenience retailer is the most popular grocer on Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, the study based on data from thousands of couriers using the Rodeo app has found.
“Growing our share of the quick commerce market is a focus, via our own Online shop and with strategic partners, and with more than 80% of the UK population having access to Co-op groceries online we are pleased to see our reach consistently reflected in these measures,” Chris Conway, Co-op ecommerce director told The Grocer.
“Our approach is centred on ease, speed and convenience from our stores, which are located at the heart of local communities, and we continue to create new ways to extend our reach and deliver the quality, reliability and value that is important to our member-owners and customers, whenever and wherever they choose to shop with us.”
The retailer has a stated ambition to take its share of the quick commerce market to more than 30%. More than 1,000 of its stores are available on all three major delivery apps.
The busiest grocers on Deliveroo after Co-op are Sainsbury’s and Morrisons; on Uber Eats are Sainsbury’s and Asda; and on Just Eat are One Stop and Asda.
Among its food retailer rivals, Co-op was an early mover onto the delivery apps, listing a handful of Manchester stores on Deliveroo in 2018. It has since secured partnerships with Just Eat; Uber Eats and Starship Technologies, which delivers orders by autonomous robots. In 2021 it made 10,000 SKUs available to buy on Amazon.co.uk, giving Prime members the ability to do “their full Co-op grocery shop” with same-day delivery and two-hour scheduled time slots.
It also offers deliveries via its own online shop, which are fulfilled by Co-op’s own drivers and since earlier this month by Uber Couriers, through a partnership with Uber’s white label delivery service Uber Direct. Co-op aims to grow the access and reach of its own online shop to around 1,000 Co-op stores by the end of the year.
During the pandemic most major supermarkets and convenience chains joined the aggregator apps, as their online operations struggled to cope with demand. Many have since partnered with all three major apps – Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda among them. Some have kept their distance, notably Tesco, which launched its own rapid Whoosh service in 2021. Whoosh takes orders on the supermarket’s own app, which are delivered by Stuart couriers in “as little as 20 minutes”. However, Tesco subsidiary One Stop has a presence on all three major delivery apps. Sainsbury’s and Co-op have both their on-demand delivery services – as well as listing with the aggregators.
Couriers relishing rise of grocery
The research by Rodeo – which enables riders to track earnings across multiple apps and see what days, times and areas are providing the best pay – also found grocery orders paid couriers more overall.
Factoring in order duration, distance, fees and average tips – Rodeo found grocery orders pay 12% more per minute than restaurant orders. Grocery orders paid 28p per minute and got an average tip of £2.80 versus the 25p per minute and £2.40 average tip for restaurant orders.
Riders are responding. “Groceries are driving changes in driver behaviour,” Rodeo co-founder Alfie Pearce-Higgins told The Grocer. “We’ve noticed drivers have started working more on Mondays. It’s one of the quietest days of the week for restaurants, and much better for grocery orders, which come more consistently through the day.”
Grocery orders are fast becoming the preferred pick-up for couriers, with a separate rider poll last week found two-thirds preferred them over restaurants. The reasons go beyond pay. Typically, they take less time to prepare for collection – “no waiting ‘two more minutes’ for the food to be ready” Pearce-Higgins said. Restaurants were twice as likely to be rated ‘slow’ by couriers, the research found, and 1.6 times more likely for couriers to consider staff as ‘rude’.
“It’s more predictable. You go to a supermarket – the bag should be there ready,” Pearce-Higgins says. “Grocery deliveries involve less wait time, a better pick-up experience and are more likely to be busy in quiet periods – they also involve fewer leaking drinks. Of course orders can be bulky and carrying 24 bottles of water on a bicycle up a hill is no joke and no fun.”
No comments yet