Deliveroo opens first bricks-and-mortar grocery shop
Image: © Mikael Buck / Deliveroo
Food delivery platform Deliveroo has opened its first ever physical store location on London’s New Oxford Street.
The Deliveroo Hop store has been launched in partnership with Morrisons, and allows customers to shop for groceries using digital kiosks and the Deliveroo app.
Some 1,750 grocery items from Morrisons’ ‘Ready to Eat’ and ‘The Best’ ranges are available from the location, says Deliveroo. Most shoppers will collect their purchases in-store, however local residents can opt for delivery to their homes or offices.
Thanks to a dedicated team of staff picking and packing orders, the company says purchases should be ready for collection or delivery “within minutes”.
The New Oxford Street shop is the latest iteration of the Hop service. For the last year, Deliveroo has developed Hop as a rapid delivery service fulfilled by central grocery warehouse locations.
Eric French, Chief Operating Officer at Deliveroo said, “We’re opening our doors and welcoming commuters, local residents, visitors and day-trippers into our first Deliveroo high-street grocery store in the UK.
“Our New Oxford Street store promises a new way to shop for Deliveroo customers, giving them even greater flexibility and choice and should help boost the local area with nearly two thirds of shoppers saying they will visit other nearby shops as they come to shop with Deliveroo.”
The physical retail space has seen plenty of experimentation in recent years, as brands try to combat the general decline in in-person sales and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns.
Deliveroo follows fellow digital-first company Amazon, which launched 15 bricks-and-mortar Amazon Fresh stores in 2021.
Meanwhile, more traditional grocery retailers have also toyed with the format of their shopping experience. In the last 18 months, Tesco, Aldi and Sainsbury’s have all opened checkout-free sites in a bid to streamline the process.
Testing the limits even further, convenience retailer SPAR teamed up with the University of Ulster over the summer on a virtual reality experiment programme to gain insights into shoppers’ behaviours.
On Deliveroo’s new Hop store, British Retail Consortium Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said: “We are increasingly seeing the lines between digital and physical retail blurring, and this announcement is an innovative example of investing to meet the diverse needs and preferences of customers.
“With challenges ahead for consumers, retailers are now working harder than ever to deliver convenience and affordability for everyone.”
When it comes to bricks-and-mortar retail, having attention-grabbing packaging is essential. Learn how to achieve it from the experts with this on demand Masterclass:
