Instant grocery deliveries

[Fizbosshoes]

DD (15) mentioned, and we both noticed, when we last went on the tube, how many ads there were for instant grocery deliveries, and how many different companies there were doing it. A year or so ago I'd never really heard of the concept.
Who uses them? Do you use them in place of, or as well as, traditional supermarket deliveries?
The radio ads (to me) sound a bit contrived - one example is you've started boiling water for pasta...but realised you haven't got any pasta. But surely people aren't buying (and paying for delivery) for just one thing? There must be a minimum spend.
I thought it was possibly more of a thing in London (especially as lots of people who live rurally or even semi rurally say they don't get uber eats or deliveroo where they are) but when I lived in London it was much easier to find a nearby corner shop/tesco metro/sainsburys local etc that was open long hours, 7 days a week, than it is now living out in commuterville.
I'm probably just really behind the times!

Never heard of this, but we don’t have Deliveroo etc. Country bumpkins.

We've used them a few times, Deliveroo and Uber will go and get groceries for you from Morrisons, Co Op, Aldi etc. and also Tesco do "Whoosh" delivery now.

I wouldn't use these services as my main grocery delivery as they don't do substitutions so if something isn't it stock then you don't get it or an alternative which is a pain if that was the reason for your order.

There normally is a minimum no. items say £40 worth but the delivery is quite expensive too for Whoosh, it's £5 so not something I'd make a habit of!

We have the little starship robots here, no delivery charge, £1 minimum for delivery, the items are slightly more expensive but you could only fit a carrier bags worth of shopping in anyway.

Have you missed the whole covid isolation thing? That might be a reason. We don’t have it here but covid aside I did see the point of it a couple of weeks ago when I had two ill (not covid) children at home and we were very low on milk and other essentials - because normally I would be at work and would have picked some up on my way home. But I couldn’t take the children out as they were too unwell. As it was we hung on and made do until my husband was back from work but I can see why others might make a different choice if it were available to them.

I haven’t heard the radio ad but I agree that sounds contrived. I can think of more realistic scenarios - like my own really!

I've ordered groceries on Deliveroo before. The minimum spend was about £8, whereas straight from the supermarket tends to be much higher. I've only used it twice, both on very hectic days where it was a lot easier to get things delivered for tea than to go shopping - and it's healthier and cheaper than ordering from a restaurant.

But like a PP said, they don't do substitutions. So it's not ideal for their advertised scenario - if you order pasta and they don't have the brand you wanted, you still won't have any pasta for your tea!

When we were isolating with Covid I was rather relieved when I worked out Deliveroo would pick up from our local Co op and deliver to our house. Its 100m away...
As it was, I managed to get a proper supermarket delivery.

Other illnesses also exist which can require emergency food purchasing!

Ha wrong link!!!

Here

I’ve used Chop Chop (Sainsbury’s) a few times. Has been handy this week with having Covid.

@RichTeaRichTea
Yeah a better scenario in the ad would have been if you were stuck inside ill or with an ill child - possibly needing calpol (do they do that? ) or similar which you potentially wouldn't want to wait for. I guess there was a gap in the market for that type of situation, which would have existed before covid.
We were lucky that when we were isolating, a friend was having a tesco delivery and asked if we wanted to add anything (although admittedly we did have to wait til the next day)

My DH regularly uses Deliveroo / Ubereats (not sure which) for ordering another bottle of wine partway through the evening ! Plus crisps / peanuts etc.

I used to use Amazon Fresh all the time when DCs had friends over and needed snacks, or when I had a horrible craving for beer or ice cream, or just needed some odd item - I remember DCs packing school trip bag and needed a wash bag and deodorant and I ordered those. Usually 2 hour delivery time and I followed them on the app.

Weird thing is that I probably used them once a week(ish) for a year or so and the drivers were never the same. Often looked like someone had just popped out of their office job to drop off my delivery!

Also had weird high blood pressure and got a monitor the same day.

One time I was reorganising some storage space and needed some plastic storage tubs from Argos - the delivery charge was cheaper than the parking and I was filthy from cleaning so I ordered them and in the next hour there was a bloke at my door with the tubs. So I finished my organising all in one day. But it did kind of freak me out that I ordered the tubs and an hour later someone was at my door handing them to me. I mean, honestly, who needs emergency 1 hour tubs. It did make me ponder what this world is coming to.

Also, I have used Almazon Fresh for a last minute same day gift and a suite one time.

I think I was using them more when they first started,

I was once in bed at 1am when I heard my 20yo ds go downstairs, I then heard the front door open and heard voices, said door then closed and ds bounded back upstairs. I texted him to see what on earth had happened. He'd had a delivery of a can of Coke, ffs!!

I can see it being useful for the cash rich time poor or occasionally for people who can't leave the house for whatever reason.

Or the novelty factor for people who don't have more pressing demands on their money such as bills to pay/a family to feed, like @brokengoalposts DS for example.

But it's obviously going to be an expensive way to shop for the majority and their business model is based on exploiting the cheap labour of their workers who only make a living by working long hours doing endless tiny jobs fetching and carrying for people.

Plus there's the whole backing of these enterprises, because it's all smoke and mirrors and the service itself isn't actually profitable, it's more about increasing the customer base and either putting rivals out of business or buying up their customer base before selling this on at a profit to another set of investors.

There was a BBC Food Programme podcast about it a few months back.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012rhp

I've seen the adds (that couple who need to change their baby but no nappies)! And knew about deliveroo etc but only recently gave the supermarkets started doing this it seems.
It also seems to be a small shop - the delivery guys are on mopeds that I've clocked. So yea if I was making something and realised I was missing an ingredient or was ill I might use them, but not for regular shopping as choice is pretty narrow and it's higher priced (as comes from local shop rather than superstore).

Thii oh s thread is rather snobby. We have getir same prices as a usual corner shop and delivery in 10 minutes. No delivery charge. Good for milk and bread. Not rich either. Yes they do capol and sanitary towels too. They also have a small section of free range meat (3 or 4 items) plus eggs. Although due to bird flu all eggs are barn currently.

I'm amazed at the number of companies offering these services now. I live in inner London and see plenty of the delivery people around - there are probably a dozen shops within a ten minute walk from my house, open long hours seven days a week, selling almost any essential item anyone might want. I can see how it's useful to get something delivered if you can't leave a child or take them with you, or you're unwell or have mobility problems, but I don't believe that accounts for most of their business. We don't need any more motorised vehicles or kamikaze cyclists on our streets.

I can't see any snobbishness

But can't you see that to provide a service where something like bread and milk is delivered in 10 minutes at normal prices with no delivery charge doesn't stack up economically so it's likely that the person doing the delivery is being exploited and there's some financial jiggery pokery going on behind the scenes?

I think it's right to question how these services actually work and make money.

Lots near where I live - Getir, Gorillas etc. I haven't used them but clearly lots are as I see their couriers on bikes everywhere.

They found a gap in the market during Covid - people isolating, unable to get a supermarket delivery slot for days and days. People I know who use them seem to do so for a range of reasons- at home with little kids so a faff to get out to the shops, working from home with no time to get out, not feeling well and want some comfort food, late at night and can't be bothered to go out. I think they might be here to stay if people have got used to the convenience.

I read an article about them in the Guardian awhile ago which said that they pay their pickers and couriers a proper wage compared to other delivery services which do zero hour contracts

@BarbaraofSeville

I can't see any snobbishness

But can't you see that to provide a service where something like bread and milk is delivered in 10 minutes at normal prices with no delivery charge doesn't stack up economically so it's likely that the person doing the delivery is being exploited and there's some financial jiggery pokery going on behind the scenes?

I think it's right to question how these services actually work and make money.

The article I read said they make money by using dark warehouses so they're not paying all the overheads that a shop would have. Minimal staff. Use bikes for delivery so no petrol costs. There was also a suggestion that the no fees model was to get people used to the convenience and would likely be introduced later down the line

I didn't mean it in a snobby way I just wondered what scenarios people use it considering so many have started in the last year or so. It seemed unlikely (to me) that people running out of pasta after they'd already boiled water was happening often enough to need them. I don't see it at all where I live although lots of people have "traditional" ocado, tesco, asda or sainsbury deliveries.
Some posters have suggested they use in a specific circumstance eg being ill indoors or at home with an ill child but there must be lots of people using the services more regularly for so many of them to exist.

I think there's a lot of them because they're all competing to become the biggest by putting the others out of business. The prize is becoming the next Amazon or Dominos.

Getting people used to the service so they will continue to use it when it starts to cost money makes sense. You just need to be able to get to this position without running out of (other peoples') money.

I used Gopuff the other morning and it was excellent. I had a child at home with Covid. It was unexpected and I had nothing in to make lunch. I ordered bread, ham and milk and it arrived within 15 minutes. No more expensive than nipping to the shop and the delivery was about £1.79. I thought that was a reasonable price to pay for the convenience.