Tesco is ramping up its investment into staff and stores to help them cope with the demands of its new partnerships with Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
The supermarket is providing “additional hours and a dedicated support team” so stores can deal with the likely influx of rapid grocery orders, it told The Grocer.
The supermarket last month announced it was launching on both Uber Eats and Deliveroo to offer rapid grocery delivery to “millions more shoppers” this summer. It had previously stood alone among its major supermarket competitors in not listing its stores on the aggregator apps, instead offering customers ultra-fast delivery only via its own quick commerce service, Tesco Whoosh.
While considered a positive move by industry commentators, several Tesco staff have turned to Reddit and other online forums to air concerns about being overrun with orders as a result.
“The workers are already stretched thin and they think adding competing apps with drivers piling up at the door is going to go smoothly,” one worker wrote. “Someone at head office has never spent five minutes on a shop floor in their life.”
“We’re already understaffed in every department so will we get more staff? No,” posted another. “We will be expected to just get on with it. Will more people leave because of it? Probably.”
Workers at rival supermarkets that are already working with the aggregator platforms shared their sympathies. “As someone who does this for Sainsbury’s: good luck to all the poor souls that have to pack the orders. You need it,” one wrote.
“I can only apologise for what’s coming your way,” posted another.
Tesco will launch on to Uber Eats this month, and Deliveroo later this summer.
“Whoosh has transformed the way millions of customers shop with Tesco, offering speed, convenience and great value through the power of Clubcard,” said Ashwin Prasad, Tesco UK CEO at the time. “Launching with Uber Eats and Deliveroo will enable us to bring those benefits to even more customers.”
The supermarket said the move would bring rapid delivery of Tesco groceries to “millions more shoppers”.
Tesco told The Grocer it would work closely with store colleagues – who pick and pack orders before they are handed over to couriers – to address store-specific labour concerns, and help them forecast order volumes, to ensure stores are prepared.
“As our rapid delivery business continues to grow, we’re increasing our investment in our stores and colleagues, with additional hours and a dedicated support team in place to help stores manage demand and deliver a great experience for both customers and colleagues,” a Tesco spokesperson told The Grocer.
“We continuously review our operations, listen to colleague feedback and make improvements where needed to ensure stores have the support they need,” they added.
Tesco staff last year vented on online forums that meeting the growing demand for the supermarkets own rapid delivery service Whoosh was proving “a nightmare” and that being expected to handle the influx of orders alongside their daily tasks is “a piss-take”.
“Whoosh is the absolute worst thing to happen to Express stores… None of our stores have enough staff to meet the demand of Whoosh and work stock and still maintain sanity,” one Tesco worker complained.
Whoosh continues to grow to the tune of 51% year on year, according to the supermarket’s latest results, with sales exceeding £400m.
It is understood orders coming to a store from Uber Eats and Deliveroo will be channelled through Tesco’s own PDAs, rather than on separate devices.
“Whoosh has transformed the way millions of customers shop with Tesco, and our online business continues to go from strength to strength,” the Tesco spokesperson added. “We’re excited to be expanding our reach through our new partnerships with Uber Eats and Deliveroo, giving even more customers access to our market-leading range, quality, and value, powered by Clubcard.”
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