International: Britain’s Waitrose joins forces with Uber Eats for rapid delivery

Reuters

11th Jul 2023

British upmarket supermarket group Waitrose has teamed up with rapid delivery firm Uber Eats to provide its groceries to shoppers’ homes in as little as 20 minutes, the companies said on Tuesday.

Waitrose, part of the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership, said the “multi-year” partnership launched on the Uber Eats platform in five London stores and will roll out to over 200 stores by the end of August.

Online’s share of the total grocery market in Britain was about 7 per cent before Covid-19. It peaked at about 15 per cent during the pandemic but has since come off to 10.4 per cent, according to market researcher NIQ.

Waitrose said the deal with Uber Eats builds on its existing partnership with Deliveroo and its own online shopping business.

Uber Eats already partners with UK supermarkets Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, the Co-op and Iceland.

• Reporting by James Davey, of Reuters.