Waitrose joins up with Uber Eats in ‘ultimate’ partnership to deliver food in ‘20 minutes’

Waitrose has launched an “ultimate” partnership with Uber Eats to have its groceries delivered to customers’ doors in as little as 20 minutes.

The supermarket’s customers will be able to get their groceries delivered to their door from five London shops to begin with.

These include John Barnes in Finchley Road, West Hampstead, Clerkenwell, St Katharine Docks and Greenwich.

By the end of August more than 200 Waitrose shops including in Wales and Scotland will be involved in the partnership.

Waitrose’s executive director James Bailey said “on-demand grocery shopping continues to grow in popularity with our customers and partnering with Uber Eats means we have even more flexibility to be there for them whenever they need us.”

The supermarket said its younger customers have helped grow its on-demand grocery orders by 40% compared to the previous year.

While Uber Eats has seen bookings from supermarkets increase by almost 60% in the first quarter of the year compared to last year.

UberEats already delivers groceries for several supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Co-op, Iceland and Morrisons, and Waitrose is the latest to be added to its list.

Groceries available to purchase on Uber Eats include its Waitrose Essentials, value range and premium range.

Mr Bailey added that the upmarket grocer wants “more and more people to enjoy the quality and taste of Waitrose products as and when they want it.”

Uber Eats UK head of commerce Alex Troughton said:  “We are delighted that Waitrose is joining the Uber Eats platform across the UK from today.

“Our partnership is the ultimate in modern day food shopping, combining the benefits of technology, convenience and speed with premium quality and huge product choice.”

He added that it is “the latest step in Uber Eats’ mission to help customers get anything they want, in a matter of minutes, at the touch of a button.”

For the past two years Waitrose has been partnered with Deliveroo, relying on this delivery service to deliver fresh groceries to customers’ doorsteps.

The Deliveroo partnership was formed after Ocado split from Waitrose to sell food from Marks & Spencer, after almost two decades working together.