Deliveroo tweaks ‘dark store’ model to let grocery shoppers in the door
Deliveroo has opened a new type of “dark store” in Central London, called the Deliveroo HOP, as it experiments with expanding its rapid grocery business. The new store functions as a mini-warehouse where Deliveroo staff pick orders for couriers operating on its platform to collect and deliver locally to app users. Moreover, the new store functions as a pick-up point for shoppers who’ve ordered groceries in Deliveroo’s app, and non-app users can also walk into a reception area to use a digital kiosk and order groceries directly in-store. The inventory comprises 1,750+ grocery items from Morrisons’ Ready to Eat’ and ‘The Best’ ranges. There is no consumer access to the store’s shelves, which is the traditional grocery store model where a customer would step up to a counter and order quantities of items, and the grocery would help themselves weigh and bag at the moment.
According to Deliveroo, the new store offers customers “a new way to shop,” — suggesting the “rapid grocery service” will meet demand from busier Londoners wanting to walk in and pick up a few bits for lunch in person or to buy ingredients for their evening meal by placing an order in its app and collecting it on their way home. However, it’s unclear how long consumers have to hang around if they make an in-store order waiting to be picked up and handed to them. The kiosks will be card payments only.
Shopping at a kiosk is not the most convenient experience if you have many items to order or a long queue of people waiting to grease up the screen. Therefore, most Deliveroo HOP store activity will remain in-app (not in-store) ordering. Dark stores in cities across Europe, including France, the Netherlands, and Spain, have faced local anger, with neighbors complaining about noise, pollution, and traffic. National lawmakers are now responding to complaints in France by clamping down on dark stores. However, the U.K. lawmakers do not appear to be contemplating similar moves — certainly not under the current government.
The New Oxford HOP store’s opening hours are 08:00-23:00. Deliveroo has not disclosed whether it plans to launch Hop stores in other U.K. cities or markets like France. A spokeswoman told TechCrunch that the business is not currently in a position to say.
The article is “Deliveroo tweaks’ dark store’ model to let grocery shoppers in the door.“