Supply disruption has delayed the launch of new home delivery platform Docaan.
Docaan was supposed to go live with LA Foods last month but supplier cost increases have caused the Nisa retailer to change the price for hundreds of products, both in store and on Docaan’s platform.
The home delivery start-up, however, has not yet integrated with the retailer’s Epos system, which would see price changes done automatically.
This has meant LA Foods director Arfan Hussain has had to amend around 400 products manually from an inventory of over 1,000 lines. Categories including crisps, soft drinks and chocolate have been impacted.
Docaan owner Bikke Chettri told The Grocer that the prices changeover has been further compounded by a “bug” on the system, giving an “error message” when LA Foods tried changing a product price. He said this has been temporarily fixed, and is still investigating the problem.
He added that linking the software with the retailer’s Epos supplier would be a “real game-changer” for the business but would need a “huge investment”.
With a new launch date to be confirmed, LA Foods will be going live with five stores across north London once the inventory has been updated.
Hussain said he wanted to keep the trial stores in close vicinity in case a site is unable to fulfil a delivery due to staff shortages.
“Labour force is really low at the moment, and there is no new wave of recruits coming in,” he said. “If someone is off sick, then that has a knock-on effect. But if I am one person short, then I can use a staff member from another store to do the delivery. That’s why I’m keeping it in north London.”
The retailer’s estate consists of 14 stores overall across London, opening its newest site in Camden in September. It is currently operating a home delivery model with Deliveroo across the majority of the sites. Arfan said the business will keep the partnership going alongside Docaan because of the customer base it has.
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