Waitrose is expanding the coverage and capacity of its same-day grocery delivery service as the coronavirus pandemic drives a spike in online grocery demand.
The Rapid Delivery service, which promises delivery in under two hours or a one-hour timeslot on the same day, is now available within the vicinities of a further 20 stores across the UK capital. This means the service is available to 2.5 million households with 7000 available slots per week.
The supermarket is also ramping up its click and collect offering, adding 10,000 more slots to bring the total up to 30,000 by rolling the service out to 70 additional shops across the UK by the end of May.
Ben Stimson, Waitrose.com director, said: “We are now making more online deliveries than Christmas week, every week, and have increased slots to reach 20% more customers than usual.
“We know there is demand for more slots and we are doing all we can to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get the essentials they need – especially those who need them the most.
“In addition to opening up more channels through expanding Waitrose Rapid and increasing the number of stores where online orders can be collected, we have recruited hundreds of drivers and increased the number of extra people-hours picking Waitrose.com orders by nearly 50%.”
The announcement comes as the UK’s supermarkets battle to serve the huge surge in demand caused by the government’s lockdown, which requires citizens to avoid leaving their homes and going to physical stores where possible.
