Sainsbury’s has given its standalone Chop Chop app the chop, bringing the rapid delivery service option into its main app.
The app was “officially decommissioned” at the weekend after close to a decade.
“Chop Chop is dead. Long live Chop Chop!” the supermarket’s head of experience design, Jim Banks, said.
“Why? well, because customers shouldn’t have to think about which app to use. One place to do the weekly shop. One place to get groceries in as little as 60 minutes. Less friction. Less mental load. More getting on with life,” he added.
The Chop Chop app was launched in June 2016, and was massively expanded the following year to give more than 1.7 million customers access, giving it “the largest reach of UK retailers offering a one-hour delivery service” the supermarket said at the time.
The service was suspended during the Covid pandemic, but later revived, utilising closed Sainsbury’s Local convenience stores, as mini fulfilment hubs.
It’s since expanded; last year Sainsbury’s reported orders via its on-demand platforms were up 80% after it expanded the Chop Chop service to new regions.
Sainsbury’s rapid service was alone in being offered via a separate app away from the main supermarket app. Tesco Whoosh and the recently launched Morrisons Now rapid offerings are accessed within their main shopping apps. Amazon Now, which launched last month offering thousands of food products and household essentials for delivery in 30 minutes or less, is also incorporated into the online retailer main app.
Of the move, Banks said: “This is a big step forward in simplifying our ecosystem, making shopping feel easier, calmer, and more human.”
Nevertheless, the supermarket’s mobile self-scanning option – Sainsbury’s SmartShop – continues as a separate app. The SmartShop app was first trialled in Alperton and Harpenden in 2015 and can now be used in the majority of its stores. An in-app payment option was added in 2022. The app continues to be updated, with the most recent update three weeks ago.
While most supermarkets are on most of the major aggregator delivery apps such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, they are increasingly putting more focus on their own quick commerce offerings.
The sub one-hour grocery market “could already be worth more than £2bn”, calculated Morgan Stanley, and it is growing at two-and-a-half times the rate of wider online grocery.
By 2030, the investment bank forecasts the total addressable market for rapidly delivered groceries will hit £5bn – a fifth of the overall online grocery market.
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