The global pandemic brought increased demand for food and grocery delivery services. Companies such as Instacart, Door Dash, Voly, Milk Run, Send and Uber Eats allow consumers to order from the safety and comfort of their own homes.
Instacart is the North American personal shopping and delivery service that operates in over 5,000 cities across the US and Canada. Its retail partners have just expanded, now servicing four of Canada's five largest grocers.
The San Francisco based company offers same-day delivery of grocery products and other essential goods. Its retail partners include Walmart, Costco, Loblaw and most recently discount store Giant Tiger, Galleria Supermarket, grocery and pharmacy retailer Metro Inc, and Nature's Emporium.
Similarly, DoorDash, which has been in the North American grocery delivery industry since 2020, has recently partnered with grocery distributors and retailers SpartanNash. Also based in San Francisco, the new partnership hopes to empower independent grocers with the tools to help grow digital footprints.
Across the ditch, Voly and Milkrun dominate the grocery delivery market as their competitors Send and Quicko collapse. Send Founder Rob Adams blamed global turmoil and rising prices for the company's downfall. All four of the digital apps offered customers a range of supermarket items to be delivered in record time at reasonable prices.
In New Zealand, supermarkets are doing their best to keep up with the demand for online shopping and home delivery with their own digital stores. New World, Countdown, PAK'nSAVE and Fresh Choice all offer both click-and-collect and door-to-door delivery services. Across the ditch, similar delivery options for Woolworths and Coles Express have been available since the beginning of the pandemic with UberEats and Doordash. Both supermarket giants continue to utilise partner delivery services for same-day and next-day arrival. Most recently, Woolworths launched the Metro60 App that promises door-to-door grocery within an hour for $5. It is currently only available in select suburbs.
Uber Eats does offer a grocery service from select supermarkets in a partnership with Foodstuffs, and Supie is a growing alternative online retailer. Services such as My Food Bag, HelloFresh and Woop all provide alternatives to food delivery services.
The on-demand model is a tricky one that can pit workers against each other. When orders come through, personal shoppers must juggle the time-sensitive and existing requests. After picking an order, it is either given to a third-party deliverer or left for the in-house service. If one side of the process is delayed, the other gets held up.
