It’s fair to say that Deliveroo has had its ups and downs over the past year.
The company’s debut on the London Stock Exchange in March was widely seen as a flop, with £2 billion wiped off its opening valuation.
One banker labelled it “the worst IPO [Initial Public Offering] in London’s history”.
Yet, the delivery service has managed to cement itself into public life over the past year or so, riding a wave of online grocery shopping.
Admittedly Marks and Spencer terminated its partnership in September 2020, but the signs are that Deliveroo is here to stay.
In the last month alone, two major grocers have signed two-year contracts.
So, which supermarkets are available on Deliveroo?
Aldi
Despite its rapid expansion into the grocery sector, most people associate Deliveroo with meals from restaurants or fast food chains.
This is definitely the case in London, where the most popular Deliveroo meal is a Five Guys’ cheeseburger, or in Birmingham, where a margherita courtesy of Rudy’s Pizza comes out on top.
Hot meals are the most frequently delivered item across every UK city – except two.
In Lancaster, the most popular food is an Aldi five-pack of bananas; in Scunthorpe it’s sausage rolls from the same store.
However, deliveries from the discounter have faced controversy further south.
Deliveroo stirred controversy earlier this year when it emerged that it had dropped off food from a Leyton-based Aldi with a hygiene rating of zero, breaking its own rules in the process.
The store has subsequently been removed from the platform.
READ MORE: Deliveroo shares tumble 30% in London debut
Waitrose
Deliveroo launched in 40 Waitrose stores back in December, and is set to almost quadruple that number by the end of the summer.
The grocer shut its Rapid delivery service this month to concentrate on its partnership with the delivery service.
“Through Deliveroo our customers can order our food for delivery in as little as 20 minutes, and we are also able to grow the service much faster than Rapid,” a Waitrose spokesperson explained.
However, a Which? study from September showed products tended to be around 10p more expensive than on the normal Waitrose website.
Some differences were even starker after taking promotions into account.
For example, the Pizza Express Classic Margherita cost £3.33 directly from Waitrose, compared to £5.20 from Deliveroo.
Lots of Waitrose customers seem to use Deliveroo to get their five a day, with lemons, avocados, bananas, blueberries and strawberries ranked as the most popular orders.
The minimum order is £10, lower than any other major supermarket. Delivery is £4.99.
Co-op
Although the Co-op’s partnership with Deliveroo began in 2019, it accelerated during the pandemic to reach 128 cities.
The service has proved most popular with shoppers across London, Manchester, Leeds and Brighton.
According to Co-op e-commerce head Chris Conway, shops act as “micro-distribution hubs”, adapting as “consumer shopping trends change in the wake of Covid-19”.
The Which? study found Deliveroo products were “typically more expensive” than on the main website.
For instance, Cathedral City Mature Cheddar cost £5 on the Co-op website, but was 25 per cent more through the delivery startup.
Like many other supermarkets, fruits have been the most frequent purchases, with strawberries and bananas coming out on top.
The minimum delivery cost is £15, while a delivery charge “may be payable”.
READ MORE: Waitrose expands Deliveroo partnership, creating 400 new jobs
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s partnership with Deliveroo began in September 2020 at a Hammersmith store.
The relationship has deepened in the months since, with the Big 4 grocer expanding its trial to 100 stores around the UK in April.
It means that shoppers in Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Aberdeen and York will have access to the service.
“Working with Deliveroo has helped us offer home grocery deliveries to even more customers,” Sainsbury’s e-commerce director Nigel Blunt said.
As in other supermarkets, bananas are big sellers on Deliveroo, having proved the most popular product with Sainsbury’s shoppers.
Other sought-after foods include milk, cucumbers, avocados and free-range eggs.
Morrisons
The Morrisons-Deliveroo partnership began in the second month of lockdown across 130 stores, with the intention of “feeding the nation”.
Despite this claim from the companies, there were signs of them reaching an agreement as early as 2019, when the Big 4 grocer extricated itself from an exclusive deal with Ocado.
By December, Morrisons’ online sales had leapt by 190 per cent after being bolstered by the supermarket’s agreements with Deliveroo and Amazon.
When the businesses first teamed up, Morrisons claimed that prices in-store and on Deliveroo would remain the same.
However, this does not seem to have been the case with orders from Morrisons.com.
The Which? study found that the main website occasionally had lower prices as a result of product promotions.
