The Co-op Group has extended its partnership with Deliveroo for another three years, and aims to have the service available from up to 1,400 stores by the end of the year.
The partnership launched in 2017, and the Group is now one of Deliveroo’s largest grocery partnerships, offering orders picked fresh from its local stores from a range of around 2,300 items.
Chris Conway, ecommerce director at the Group, said: “Co-op is committed to exploring new and innovative ways to serve our members and customers, with ease, speed, quality, value and convenience at the heart of our approach. We are delighted to be able to expand our partnership with Deliveroo – as a convenience retailer, the ability to come into stores will always be important to customers, but we also know that shoppers want flexible, quick and convenient options online, and so we are focused on providing what our customers want and need, however and wherever they choose to shop with us.”
Carlo Mocci, chief business officer UK&I at Deliveroo, said: “Co-op is one of Deliveroo’s largest on-demand grocery partnerships and it continues to be a huge success. Deliveroo’s riders have brought countless pints of milk, bananas and meal-time staples to households throughout the UK, helping to rescue tea time, picnic plans and more. We’re delighted to be extending our partnership and bringing more choice into people’s lives and easier ways to shop.”
The Group’s delivery partnerships with Deliveroo and Amazon have drawn concern from some sections of the co-op movement, with platform co-op activists working to develop worker-led alternatives to the online giants, which have been criticised by unions for their working practices.
Related: Ethical challenges for co-ops in the modern retail world
But the Group has said growing its ecommerce strategy is crucially important in “getting our ethically sourced products into the hands of more people”. It adds that the partnership with Deliveroo – which uses bicycle deliveries – will “help to cut congestion and unnecessary short car journeys”.
Orders can be placed directly through the Group’s own online shop – shop.coop.co.uk
