Just Eat is rolling out its white-label, delivery-as-a-service offering Jet Go across the UK with Co-op.
The service allows supermarkets to sell product through their own website and app, but leverage the aggregator app’s network of couriers to deliver baskets to shoppers’ homes.
Co-op customers will be able to make purchases from both the Co-op app and website, as well as through Co-op’s delivery app for independent convenience stores Peckish, with options for on-demand, same-day and scheduled deliveries.
Rapid demand
Jet Go responds to a growing consumer demand for immediate convenience, Just Eat said, with 80% of customers now wanting same-day or on-demand delivery, according to the aggregator. The company’s research found 75% of on-demand grocery shoppers expect it to become part of their daily lives.
Co-op has rolled out the service across hundreds of stores. Uses can purchase “everything from a full shop to forgotten or top-up ingredients for a midweek meal, or treats for evenings at home”, Just Eat said.
The Grocer was, in May, the first to report on the imminent launch of the service – being pitched to retailers as a way to “enjoy ownership of the ordering experience, maintain brand visibility to your customer base and have us seamlessly dispatch a courier”.
“It’s a recognition that this is where the market’s going,” Matt Ephgrave, MD of Just Eat for Business, told The Grocer. “The use of delivery apps over the last few years has shifted consumer demand.
“We see that more brands are launching direct-to-consumer propositions, their own website or app offerings where they need to provide a delivery to a customer. And we have the biggest delivery network of all the aggregators in the UK,” he added. “There’s a huge synergy there. We’ve white-labelled our courier proposition and made that available to other brands. And it inherently drives more volume through our network, which means the network gets more efficient.”
Rival offerings
The launch follows the arrival in April of rival Deliveroo’s white-label delivery service Deliveroo Express. The new service replicates Deliveroo’s existing white-label service for restaurant deliveries and takeaways, and secured its first partner in Tesco Whoosh. Deliveroo Express has partnered with three stores in Ireland to deliver Whoosh orders.
Both Just Eat’s Jet Go and Deliveroo Express rival Uber Eats’ similar offer, Uber Direct, which provides the last-mile delivery for the majority of Tesco Whoosh orders in the UK.
Ephgrave said Just Eat was “not going out looking for exclusivity” regarding retailers adopting the Jet Go service over rival offerings, but “we’ll take it if possible”.
An industry source told The Grocer the aggregator apps had “realised the strategic position Uber have acquired by offering cheap white-label delivery” and predicted “a price war” between the white-label delivery providers.
“We know we have the best coverage and the strongest networks, so that means we can be a little bit savvy on price. We’ve yet to get into a bidding war,” Ephgrave said.
Just Eat’s delivery-as-a-service is already live on its platforms in 15 countries including Canada, Australia, Bulgaria and Spain. Further “big UK brands” are set to come online across in the coming months, Just Eat said.
“Jet Go is not only a powerful solution for major retailers, but also a game-changer for smaller high street businesses looking to offer on-demand delivery with full brand control while retaining control of the customer experience,” Ephgrave added.
Co-op’s ambitions
The deal provides a further boost to Co-op’s quick commerce ambitions, said Chris Conway, Co-op quick commerce director. The retailer claims to be the leading quick commerce supermarket, with more than 86% of the UK population having access to Co-op groceries online via its own online shop and its partners.
It has been ramping up its online offering in recent years, and plans to capture close to a third of the store-to-door, rapid delivery market by 2027. The retailer’s aim is to take 30% of the UK quick convenience market, which it defines as fast deliveries made from stores to customer homes.
In February, Co-op launched rapid delivery grocery app Peckish, which it will offer to independent convenience stores seeking to tap the growing home delivery market. The retailer is making a £1m investment into Peckish in its first year, and is hoping to sign up more than 1,000 stores in the next 12 months.
“Growing our quick commerce channel is a priority for us and a core part of our strategic approach, and so I am delighted to extend and deepen our successful partnership with Just Eat,” Conway said. “Innovation has always been fundamental to our approach and we continue to see consumer appetite for quick, easy and convenient grocery delivery continue to grow. Our new agreement with Jet Go is an exciting new chapter in our relationship, which will see us work together to continue to grow Co-op’s leading q-comm channel and meet the evolving needs of shoppers in our communities across the UK.”
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