Deliveroo branches into grocery deliveries in Ireland

* Food delivery company Deliveroo is branching out in light of Covid-19, signing deals with several convenience store brands to offer a grocery delivery service to customers.

The company has signed up outlets under the Spar, Fallon & Byrne, Londis, and Mace brands to allow customers shop on its app for household goods and then get them delivered by a Deliveroo rider.

Under the new system, called “essentials”, Deliveroo’s more than 1,000 riders will pick up orders placed through the company’s app and deliver those to customers’ doorsteps in as little as 30 minutes.

The company said it was still talking to Musgrave convenience group, Centra, about a similar deal though nothing has yet been finalised. Deliveroo had earlier named Centra among its new convenience grocery partners.

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“Deliveroo has made efforts throughout the Covid-19 crisis to ensure that food and convenience delivery can be conducted safely,” the company said. All deliveries will be contact free, so riders will not hand deliveries over to customers but leave them outside their front door for collection.

Deliveroo said that it is up to the independent operators it is working with to decide what they sell on the website, but that typically they would have a scaled back version of their store offering.

The delivery fee is variable, but is charged in the same way the delivery fees for a restaurant are charged. Depending on an outlet’s proximity to a customer, the fee could range from 99 cent up to €4.99.

Asked whether the commission regime for the grocery retailers would be similar to that for the restaurants on its service, Deliveroo said it doesn’t “discuss commissions of any partner”. The company typically charges commission ranging from 20 per cent and 30 per cent of the total cost of a meal.

Trips outdoors

"Alongside our work with restaurants, we have been working hard with off-licence partners such as Spar, Londis and Mace to make it easier for customers to get access to day-to-day food and household items quickly as they limit trips outdoors," said Deliveroo Ireland general manager Michael Healy.

Deliveroo launched a similar service in the UK on Tuesday, delivering basic goods from 130 Morrisons stores. Around 70 products have been made available on the UK service where a delivery fee of £4.99 will be in place.

Deliveroo currently has more than 1,200 restaurants on its books across the State. The privately held company works in 12 markets in more than 500 towns and cities. The company, which launched in the Republic in 2015, works with more than 1,000 riders here to deliver from restaurants in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.

*This article was edited on April 9th, 2020