Doddle, the new click & collect network launched last week, is in discussions with major UK supermarkets and is exploring adding a temperature-controlled service for grocers.

The company - a joint £24m venture between Network Rail and Lloyd Dorfman, the founder of the Travelex foreign exchange business - plans to open 300 click & collect locations within three years, including 30 to 40 sites at high-footfall areas this year.

MD Tim Robinson told The Grocer Doddle would roll out as a delivery option for Amazon in September and also hoped to unveil a partnership with a major grocer “this year”.

The company was in talks with “a number of supermarkets” for both “general merchandise and grocery” and saw a place for both ambient and temperature-controlled deliveries. “We’re very keen to get that to market,” he said.

Doddle has already signed up fashion retailers Asos and New Look, which offer Doddle as a delivery option for online orders.

Retailers signed up to the service integrate Doddle into their usual delivery options and charges, but individual consumers can also elect to have orders from any website delivered to Doddle - at a cost of £1.95 per item.

“The most apparent benefit to retailers is the consolidation effect,” said Robinson. “The fewer home addresses they have to deliver to, the more efficient the supply chain. We are guaranteed first-time delivery for a retailer - the final mile delivery cost is very high, and Doddle adds value.”

Doddle will open shops at stations including London Waterloo, Bromley South, Brighton, Chelmsford and London Cannon Street, as well as in the Westfield shopping centre, this year.

The shops, which are staffed and have changing rooms, will be open seven days a week.

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