Sainsbury’s is offering bikes to carry out its deliveries for the first time in its whole span of 116 years.
Shoppers will be able to order up to 20 items in one slot through the supermarket’s ‘Chop Chop’ app.
The delivery will be made within the hour by cargo bike, with the service costing around £4.99 per delivery, but for now it is available in parts of west and south London and is limited to just iPhone users. Sainsbury’s has already recruited a team of 40 shoppers and cyclists to run the scheme.
In a statement, the supermarket explained that the app will be useful for buying particularly forgotten items, or for when the guests are making a surprise visit, or when they are invited in the 11th hour.
Following a highly successful trial, the service had delivered orders over 35,000 postcodes from its stores in Pimlico and Wandsworth.
The service has been compared with Deliveroo or Just Eat, but the key difference is that the riders will be on-rolls of Sainsbury’s, rather than ‘freelance’ workers whom are paid per delivery.
The new service will make Sainsbury’s the only retailer to offer delivery within an hour. It will be rolled out along the length and breadth of London if the app- based service proves to be popular. In a press statement, the retailer added that it also has plans to roll out an Android version of the app.
Meanwhile, Morrisons has finally overtaken Sainsbury’s to become the second-biggest listed supermarkets group by market value.
A 1.66p fall from Sainsbury’s to 230.34p made the difference. The orange-branded group’s £5 billion value is now smaller than the £5.1 billion market capitalisation of Morrisons, up 0.4p at 218.1p.
Sainsbury’s has missed out on the rally enjoyed by Tesco and Morrisons this year as investors bet on a turnaround for the pair, but remain sceptical about Sainsbury’s £1.4 billion swoop for Argos owner Home Retail amid a price war with discounters Aldi and Lidl.
