Deliveroo has ‘head start’ on grocery rivals, claims founder

Deliveroo boss Will Shu has said the startup stands out from other grocery platforms because of its partnerships with major retailers.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, he claimed to have “built” the “quick commerce” market, which is worth £1.4 billion in the UK.

On-demand grocery services have sprung up around the country during the Covid-19 pandemic, from homegrown apps like Weezy to international “unicorns” including Gorillas and Getir.

In a sign of the overcrowded market, 10-minute delivery service Dija was recently snapped up by US giant Gopuff after struggling to stay afloat.

READ MORE: Which supermarkets are available on Deliveroo?

“We built the on-demand grocery market – we were the first ones to launch this two years ago with a partnership with Co-op,” Shu said.

“We have a very, very big head start in the UK grocery on-demand market, we work with most of the major grocers out there, many of them working with us on an exclusive basis.”

Deliveroo currently delivers goods from Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, the Co-op, Aldi and Booths.

However, Marks and Spencer dumped the partnership in September last year, entering into a £750 million agreement with Ocado instead.

Tesco has steered clear of the startup, prioritising its one-hour delivery service, Whoosh.

“The percentage of our business that is represented by grocery continues to grow and grow and grow,” Shu continued.

Groceries account for 10 per cent of Deliveroo’s UK revenues.

In May, the company revealed that its most popular delivery in Lancaster was a bunch of Aldi bananas.

The most popular delivery in Scunthorpe was sausage rolls from the same retailer.

Shu also announced that Deliveroo’s losses had narrowed after order values soared by 110 per cent over the last six months.

He claimed the reopening of hospitality businesses, which has flattened supermarket sales growth, had “no material impact”.

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