Deliveroo couriers will pick, pack and deliver Aldi products to customers in an exclusive partnership between the aggregator app and the discounter.
The new ‘Shop & Deliver’ service will be trialled across eight stores from early October, including Norwich, Ipswich, Tamworth, Letchworth Garden City and four stores in Kent. The service is set to expand to further stores in early 2027.
Participating couriers will be guided around stores via the rider app, which lists items in the most efficient order to help riders readily locate them. The Deliveroo couriers then scan each product using their phones and can flag any unavailable items before paying with a pre-paid Rider Card.
The new service is entirely optional for riders, but “offers an additional way to earn” Deliveroo said.
The model “allows Aldi colleagues to focus on keeping stores running smoothly for consumers” the company added.
Shop & Deliver is modelled on a “similar, established capability” rolled out by DoorDash, Deliveroo’s parent company, in geographies including with Aldi in Australia and the US.
“We’ve always been committed to bringing low prices to as many people as possible, and this partnership with Deliveroo allows us to do exactly that without changing how our stores operate,” said Giles Hurley, CEO at Aldi UK.
“The DoorDash model has been incredibly popular with Aldi customers in Australia and the United States, and we know from our previous trials there is clear demand for more affordable groceries on a rapid delivery platform in the UK,” Hurley added.
“By working with Deliveroo, in this unique and efficient way, we can give more people access to Aldi quality and value, however they choose to shop with us,” he said.
Unlike most of its supermarket rivals, Aldi has had limited dealing with the aggregator apps like Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Just Eat. Nor does the discounter offer online grocery shopping, or click & collect.
It did partner with Deliveroo in 2020, but ended the relationship in 2022, removing 130 stores nationwide from the platform.
As part of the new operating model customers will be able to shop a wide range of Aldi products, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, dairy, bread, household essentials and Aldi’s middle aisle Specialbuys products, for delivery on demand.
“Consumers in several locations across the country will soon be able to enjoy Aldi’s great value and selection delivered to their doorstep on demand,” said Rob Harris, VP merchant and chief revenue officer at Deliveroo.
“For riders, Shop & Deliver is entirely optional, offering an additional way to earn outside of busy mealtimes which may suit those who choose to ride alongside childcare or another form of work,” he added.
The concept of couriers entering stores to pick products on the retailers behalf has been limited in the UK, but more common in the US where platforms like Instacart partner with Costco, Kroger and Aldi. Instacart has not brought the same model to the UK, despite launching its Caper Cart smart trolleys and order management software here.
In 2024, Uber Eats announced couriers would soon be picking items from store shelves, as well as delivering the orders, in what it said would be a first in Europe for a delivery platform.
However, the launch never materialised; Uber Eats’ grocery chief telling The Grocer later that year that “these things aren’t easy and take a lot of time”.
Resourcing the picking of rapid grocery orders is an increasing challenge for supermarkets, The Grocer reporting this week on Tesco worker complaints over how the supermarket’s new partnerships with Uber Eats and Deliveroo are “genuinely destroying the store”, with demand from the platforms making their work “a nightmare”.
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