Boots launches on-demand delivery experience with Deliveroo | Transport companies/delivery industry

[ad_1]

Pharmacy chain Boots will become the latest big-box retailer to make its products available through Deliveroo, as the takeaway delivery company aims to expand beyond restaurant orders.

Stores in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Nottingham will be among 14 stores initially available in the trial as part of a pilot scheme launched on Tuesday.

The deal means customers will be able to order medicines and painkillers for mild illnesses like coughs, colds and hay fever for home delivery. Cosmetics, toiletries, baby products and snacks will also be among the 400 products initially available from US-owned Boots, Britain’s largest pharmacy chain.

If the Boots deal rolls out across the country, it would add to the growing Deliveroo business that offers groceries and other products beyond takeaway food orders.

Deliveroo was started by Will Shu, a London-based investment banker, when he spotted a gap in the market for takeaway delivery. However, in the first half of the year, groceries accounted for 7% of Deliveroo’s transaction volume, and the company has partnerships with Waitrose, Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury and Aldi among UK supermarkets.

However, the on-demand grocery market – which is still in its infancy – is fast becoming more competitive, with well-funded new entrants such as Getir, Weezy, Fancy and Gorillas. They spend heavily on networks that are able to deliver a relatively small range of products to customers in large cities in a matter of minutes.

Paula Bobbitt, director of the Boots UK website, said the retailer has focused on products for parents and patients who can’t easily leave home.

Subscribe to the daily Business Today mail or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at BusinessDesk

Other towns and cities included in the initial trial are Brighton, Cambridge, Croydon, Leeds, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Newcastle and Southampton.

Deliveroo endured its first hot few months on the London stock market after suffering one of the worst stock price drops in the history of the London Stock Exchange on the first day after the listing. Some investment managers have expressed concerns about the rights of its workers, who are treated as independent contractors, while others have said they are avoiding a flotation due to US-style restrictions on shareholder voting power.

Still, the company’s valuation has risen steadily from its April lows, closing above its listing price of 390 pence for the first time last week, a month after it said sales were better than expected. On Monday, it closed shy of its listing price at 389 pence, valued at £6.7 billion.

[ad_2]