We’ve all been there. It’s 11pm and you’re suddenly peckish before bed. The shops are shut and your cupboards are empty, and you end up settling for a few stale biscuits.
Will now, your late night snacks are about to be transformed, as Co-op becomes the first major supermarket to launch a 24 hour rapid delivery service.
Launching in three UK cities, London, Leeds and Manchester will be the first to trial the service after the supermarket found that 40% of quick commerce shoppers said they would use an 11pm to 5am delivery service if available.
The Co-op is working with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, and you’ll be able to order via these apps.
The stores were picked based on the local demographic, as well as the availability of delivery drivers, and where stores are already staffed around the clock, for shelf-stocking purposes.
If you don’t live in one of these major cities though, you’re not completely missing out.
The supermarket chain is extending online availability times in more than 1,600 stores nationwide – although these are still within regular opening hours.
Research by the Co-op found that gen z shoppers were the most keen for an out-of-hours service, while half of 18 to 44-year-olds said they could do with groceries on-hand at all hours.
And research also found that Londoners were the most likely to use the 24-hour service.
More than half of Brits from the capital said they would use the service, with the main reason for this being their shift patterns.
Chris Conway, Co-op e-commerce director said: ‘We focus on ease, speed and convenience from our local stores, which are well placed in the heart of communities.
‘Societal behaviours including changing lifestyles and shift working is increasing the requirement for online groceries to be delivered quickly and conveniently at non-traditional times of the day.’
Is buying groceries from delivery apps more expensive?
Data from consumer choice brand Which? found that ordering groceries from apps and online sites such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats often costs more than buying direct from the same supermarket.
To collect the data, they compared the price of a basket of 15 popular grocery items at five major supermarkets against what you’d pay if you ordered the same basket, from the same supermarket, to the same postcode, via a delivery app.
They found that most of the items they purchased were either more expensive on the delivery apps or the same price, meaning that it is cheaper to shop directly from a supermarket.
The basket of items – which included branded and own-label goods – would have cost £36.63 from Iceland. Getting those same items delivered from the same Iceland store by Just Eat would have cost £50.50 – a whopping 38% premium on your grocery bill.
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