Another Rapid Grocery Delivery Service Launches In London

Namnews, 15th October 2021

Russian technology giant Yandex has joined the increasingly crowded rapid grocery delivery market in London.

The firm’s ultrafast service will operate under the Yango Deli brand and offer delivery from a selection of more than 2,500 products within 15 minutes. The business model is based on its successful Yandex Lavka grocery service that operates across Russia and follows recent launches in Israel and France as part of an international expansion drive.

In London, Yango Deli has launched four so-called ‘dark stores’ – mini warehouses located in residential areas where orders are processed. Located in Bethnal Green, Battersea, Bermondsey and Acton, they initially cover 1.4 million potential customers. The company said it will expand operations across the city in the coming months.

“The UK, and London in particular, is an exciting new market for Yango Deli, as the city is especially well suited to the dark store model,” said Yevgeny Chernikov, head of Yango Deli UK.

“The densely populated capital is full of busy professionals, young students and many others who appreciate the convenience of a fast, stress-free shopping experience.”

Yandex added that it was planning to launch its rapid grocery delivery service in other European cities.

Faster, on-demand delivery is the latest frontier in the battle for grocery shoppers with start-ups such as Weezy, Dija, Zapp, Jiffy, Gorillas, and Getir now taking on established players like Deliveroo.

Tesco recently began trials of its new Whoosh rapid delivery service and revealed this month that it had been expanded to over 50 of its Express shops. And Asda announced last week that its ‘Express Delivery’ service was being rolled out to 96 stores after trials exceeded expectations.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s has its own quick delivery operation called Chop Chop, but it has partnered with Deliveroo and Uber Eats to boost capacity. Waitrose scrapped its own Zoom rapid delivery operation earlier this year in favour of expanding its tie-up with Deliveroo. Morrisons, Aldi, and the Co-op are also using delivery operators such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

NAM Implications:

• Issue will be whether speed or price will be the driver…
• …and demand drawn from mainstream retailing?