East of England Co-operative has become the latest co-op to launch a home delivery service.

The service has been launched within a five-mile radius of 18 of the society’s supermarkets. It is free for shoppers spending over £25. Those spending less will be charged £3.50.

To use the service, shoppers go to one of the stores, select a home delivery slot, then do their shop. Their goods will then be delivered in the time slot allocated.

Anything in the store can be delivered, including electrical items.

East of England said it had invested £500,000 in the service, including the purchase of 12 vans.

“Anything that makes life easier for our customers makes good business sense to us and so we’re really pleased to be bringing free home delivery to so many more stores,” said Roger Grosvenor, executive - retail, at East of England Co-op. “We’re getting great feedback from customers and we hope to be able to roll this out to more stores in future.”

The Co-operative Group already has a similar service. In December, it also launched a pilot for online click & collect in one store.