Supermarket delivery war breaks out as Asda promise groceries in one-hour
Asda has started a grocery delivery war with Amazon and other supermarkets by launching a one-hour delivery service.
The pilot scheme will initially only serve people living within three miles of its Halifax, Rotherham and Poole stores – and will cost customers £8.50.
The supermarket says it will become the first grocer to offer its full online product range, though rivals like Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s already offer one-hour – or faster – delivery services through Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Amazon and other providers on a limited number of products.
Now Asda says shoppers can order up to 70 items and have them delivered within an hour, or buy an unlimited basket which can be delivered with a four-hour window.
If popular, bosses hope to roll out the scheme to other stores – although the £8.50 delivery fee may put some shoppers off, with rivals charging far less for each delivery.
The supermarket is also extending its partnership with Uber Eats from 200 to more than 300 stores, with 500 products including fruit, vegetables, beer, wine, spirits and meals for rapid delivery.
Asda’s vice president of online grocery Simon Gregg said: ‘After successfully trialling an Express Delivery service, we know this is something that our customers want as part of our online grocery proposition and we are delighted to be able to offer this service to even more customers.
Nearly 2,000 Covid cases linked to Scotland fans watching Euro 2020 matches‘The launch of our new Express Delivery service and extension of our existing partnership with Uber Eats to 300 stores means that customers can get their order delivered to the doorstep at market-leading pace.’
Most UK supermarkets are exploring how to get deliveries to customers more quickly.
Sainsbury’s operates its own service, called Chop Chop, which it expanded to 50 stores in 20 cities last year.
Tesco, which had previously not offered any rapid delivery service, launched its own Whoosh trial in Wolverhampton and plans to expand it.
Morrisons also offers same-day rapid deliveries as part of its tie-up with Amazon, which in turn offers customers its own Amazon Fresh products.
Meanwhile, Waitrose announced plans to shut down its own Rapid delivery service, which it launched in 2018, saying it would instead focus on expanding its partnership with Deliveroo.
Other delivery firms in the grocery market include Gorillas, Getir and Fink, which have all raised significant sums of money from investors looking to cash in on the growing industry.
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