Tesco Enters On-Demand Grocery Market

 Namnews, 27th May 2021

Tesco is taking on Deliveroo and the numerous start-ups in the on-demand grocery market with the launch of a new rapid delivery service.

Called Whoosh, the online service will offer the delivery of groceries to customers within an hour. It will initially be trialled in selected postcodes in Wolverhampton with orders being fulfilled from its Willenhall Express store. Products will be delivered by bike, moped or car, with a delivery fee of £5 for orders over £15.

All prices on Whoosh will be set at the same level as they are in the Express store, with shoppers eligible for any discounts or promotions currently running.

Like other supermarket chains, Tesco has seen soaring demand for its standard online grocery delivery service during the pandemic. It briefly trialled a fast delivery service back in 2017 but has since refrained from following rivals into the increasingly crowded on-demand market.

Chris Poad, Online Managing Director at Tesco, said: “Customers are telling us that they would welcome the addition of a 60-minute delivery to their door option as part of our online grocery service.

“We’ll use the pilot to understand how Whoosh could work best for both our customers and our colleagues.”

Sainsbury’s has its own rapid delivery operation called Chop Chop, but it has also partnered with Deliveroo and Uber Eats to boost capacity. Meanwhile, Waitrose recently scrapped its own Zoom rapid delivery business in favour of expanding its tie-up with Deliveroo.

Morrisons, Asda, Aldi and the Co-op are also using delivery operators such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats, whilst numerous start-ups have launched in the last couple of years amid increasing demand for such services. These include Fancy, Weezy, Dija, Zapp and Getir. However, much of the competition has so far centred on London with the development of models that can operate profitably in smaller cities key to the future growth of the market.