Crowdshipping platform Shopopop has launched in the UK with the ambition to secure a partnership with a major retailer by the end of the year.
The app allows individuals – or ‘crowdshippers’ – to pick up orders picked and prepared by stores and deliver them along their daily commutes, and earn ‘tips’ for doing so.
Shopopop said crowdshippers earned on average £6 per delivery, the earnings designed to offset the cost of travel rather than provide a full-time salary.
The France-based business founded in 2015 has already delivered groceries for retailers including Carrefour, E.Leclerc, Colruyt and Decathlon. It has forged partnerships with more than 25 retailers and brands across 7,500 stores, and completed more than 17 million deliveries across Europe.
The app boasts some 350,000 crowdshippers, which deliver groceries and goods to over 30,000 people daily.
Shopopop’s first partner will “benefit from being the inaugural retailer to offer this first-of-its-kind, community-focused delivery method for UK consumers” the company said.
It expects to scale its operations in “hard-to-reach communities” and rural areas, which are less well served by the aggregator apps. The company would have the “biggest impact in making the delivery of groceries and goods accessible to everyone, regardless of location” it said.
“Following numerous conversations with major retailers and a thorough analysis of the wider e-commerce delivery ecosystem in the UK, we are confident Shopopop’s community-focused approach can address some of today’s most pressing issues for last-mile deliveries throughout the country,” said Antoine Truong, Shopopop’s global head of retail.
“In particular, we are looking forward to offering new solutions for consumers in rural areas to help them access the groceries and goods they require on a daily basis, delivered by trusted members of their community,” he added.
Shopopop said it had already “initiated conversations” with Asda, Co-op, Kingfisher, Morrisons and Tesco.
“The UK is known for embracing new online delivery methods and together with its strong sense of community, we see our platform as the ideal tool for rural and hard-to-reach communities to come together and support one another, forming meaningful relationships in the process,” said Johan Ricaut, Shopopop’s CEO and co-founder.
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