Waitrose pilots two-hour deliveries
Waitrose & Partners is piloting a new faster delivery service where customers can have their food and drink delivered to their home within two hours or on the same day.
Working with the On the Dot delivery company, the retailer has launched ‘Waitrose Rapid Delivery’ in the SW5, SW6 , SW10, WC1, WC2, EC1, CR5 and CR8 postcodes.
Customers in these areas will be able to choose up to 20 items from more than 1,500 products at rapid.waitrose.com and will be given the option of receiving their shopping within two hours of placing the order or to specify a one-hour time slot on the same day.
The orders are subject to a £10 minimum spend and there will be a £5 charge for using either service.
Waitrose said the trial is being introduced to meet the rise in customers shopping ‘as and when’. According to research carried out for the Waitrose Food Report 2017/18, two thirds of consumers regularly or occasionally visit a supermarket more than once a day.
Richard Ambler, head of business development at Waitrose & Partners, said: “Customers are increasingly wanting to buy whatever they want when they want it. For many, we have moved away from the weekly supermarket visit to give us more fluidity with our busy lives and give us better control against over-buying and waste. Our trips to the supermarket are therefore much more frequent – Waitrose Rapid Delivery ensures we give our customers even greater flexibility and convenience to get their shopping as and when they want it.”
As well as using lorries to make deliveries, the new service will also include delivery by On the Dot cargo bikes to help save on emissions.
