New home delivery player Flash is setting its sights on working with 100 convenience stores by the end of the year.
Owned by independent retailer Leon Whittaker, who runs Premier MJs in Royton with his father Justin, Flash has 38 retailers signed up so far, after launching the service with Premier Smiley’s One Stop Shop in Blackpool last spring.
Whittaker developed the business into a franchise operation to serve other retailers, having initially launched a home delivery service from his own store, called ‘MJs, groceries in a flash’, in 2017.
The service grew to produce 50% of the store’s turnover, taking up to £30k a week in sales, according to Whittaker.
“We were sceptical about a franchise at first and risking retailers ruining the brand by giving a bad service,” Whittaker told The Grocer. “But we knew we could use the experience and data from our own store and service to help other retailers grow.”
Whittaker said the app-based Flash service offered retailers and shoppers a range of benefits, including a 0% service charge and membership scheme called Bolt, with free delivery “like Amazon Prime” and double loyalty points redeemable as free products.
The app has also been recently developed to give Bolt members exclusive pricing “like Tesco Clubcard”. The subscription costs shoppers £8.49 a month, with members having a £1.99 higher average basket spend, Whittaker said.
For retailers signing up to Flash, it charges a £100 base rate per month, then a 30p fee per transaction thereafter. This is capped at £300 a month.
“It means every transaction you make after that £300 mark is free to the retailer,” said Whittaker. “So if a franchisee only did 10 deliveries in a month they would get charged £103, but if they did over 1,000 deliveries in a month, the maximum we would charge is £300.”
Whittaker said Flash provided retailers with car wrapping, uniforms, leaflets and social media support.
It has recently taken a $1m investment from a tech firm in India, which has helped Flash to develop an operations team for bringing new franchisees on board.
Out of the 38 stores signed up, 12 are live so far, including Premier Arlington and Premier Ashington in Newcastle, which previously delivered with Snappy Shopper.
Flash also has retailers from Spar, Nisa, and Family Shopper signed up.
No comments yet