TESCO IS LOOKING into extending its new one-hour delivery service to Ireland after rolling out the amenity for customers in central London.
Using the new Tesco Now app, which is not currently available in the Republic, customers can order up to 20 items from a selection of 1,000 products. These goods are then delivered within 60 minutes at select times.
The London service, which costs £7.99, is provided through a third-party firm called Quiqup, which has partnered with Tesco to fulfill the deliveries by moped.
When asked whether Tesco Ireland was considering such a service, a spokeswoman for the company told Fora that it is “looking at this as an option” – although timelines have yet to be finalised.
Online delivery
Tesco Ireland currently provides an online delivery service but users need to order items at least 24 hours in advance. They must also book a two-hour slot from 8am to 11pm to take the delivery when it arrives at their home.
The service costs from €3 to €7 depending on whether the user books a peak or off-peak delivery slot.
Quick grocery deliveries are available in Dublin through startup Buymie. The young company picks groceries from any supermarket in the capital and delivers them to customers’ doors with the promise of a one-hour delivery time.
However Buymie recently ran into trouble with the advertising watchdog for offering Aldi goods that weren’t available on its shelves.
Tesco’s new one-hour service in London will compete directly with online behemoth Amazon, which rolled out its AmazonFresh grocery service in the UK capital last year.
Tesco’s decision to launch one-hour deliveries comes shortly after Amazon announced a $13.7 billion acquisition of US-based fancy supermarket Whole Foods.
Although Whole Foods only has a minor presence in the UK capital, the acquisition sent the stocks of British supermarkets tumbling. Pundits expect Jeff Bezos to try to take a bigger bite out of grocery spend.
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
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