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Source: Deliveroo

Deliveroo has struck a partnership with The Perfume Shop as part of its move into non-food which launched last year.

The partnership with the UK’s largest specialist fragrance retailer will launch in the coming months, offering delivery of perfume from 21 stores covering London, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh “in as little as 25 minutes”.

Deliveroo launched its non-food retail offer – Deliveroo Shopping – in November, allowing consumers to “seamlessly order a range of retail products, from electronics to petfood, from flowers to toys”.

The company said it would “dramatically expand” the selection of non-takeaway or grocery items offered, covering categories including pharmacy, DIY, homeware, toys and petcare.

As part of the launch, Deliveroo agreed an exclusive partnership with Screwfix, offering an initial range of 500 products. In February this year, the aggregator app’s rapid delivery service Deliveroo Hop partnered with Ann Summers to offer consumers a range of sexual wellness products for delivery “in minutes”.

Deliveroo has also been working with its supermarket and convenience store partners to expand the non-food selection available on the app.

Deliveroo Shopping “gives customers the option to send gifts to others in just a few clicks, whether it’s to say thank you to a friend or send that last-minute birthday present to a loved one” the company said. The Perfume Shop partnership would “perfectly complement the gifting functionality”, it added.

The partnership comes as the UK fragrance sector continues to grow, with total sales in December 2023 estimated at more than £2bn, an increase of around 9.4% on the previous year. New Deliveroo data reveals searches in-app for perfume have increased over 300% year on year, “showing a growing interest from Deliveroo customers for fragrances delivered on demand”.

“We know people are using Deliveroo to send gifts to friends and loved ones as well as purchase fragrances for themselves, so this will be an ideal partnership for our customers,” said Eric French, chief operating officer at Deliveroo. “We look forward to welcoming more partners to Deliveroo Shopping as we continue to expand and enhance the convenience and variety we know our consumers love.”

After their move into grocery through the pandemic, several courier apps and rapid grocers have started offering non-food items and partnering with non-grocery retailers. Deliveroo in 2022 partnered with WH Smith and Boots, while rapid grocer Zapp stocks high-value items from LVMH and Apple.

Deliveroo rival Just Eat last year gave users the option to shop for Lego on the platform, as part of a trial with Asda and the Lego Group. In March, Just Eat began a play in health & beauty through a partnership with independent UK chain Pyramid Pharmacy. It sees a broad range of items, including perfume, make-up, first aid essentials and flu remedies listed on the app. In May it partnered with prescription glasses retailer Pop to enable customers to order prescription, ready-to-wear eyewear in under 30 minutes from a planned 30 stores by the end of this year.

“Teaming up with Deliveroo is a very exciting moment for The Perfume Shop,” said Gill Smith, MD at The Perfume Shop. “By partnering with the UK’s leading food delivery platform, we’re taking our gifting and retail options to the next level. The exciting collaboration is all about opening new avenues and making things more convenient and accessible to our customers, who can enjoy their favourite fragrances with the same ease and speed they’ve come to expect with Deliveroo.”