Waitrose has raised the number of delivery slots available from 2,000 to 7,000 each week through its Waitrose & Partners Rapid delivery service, with at least 40% reserved exclusively for the elderly and vulnerable.
“We are now making more online deliveries than Christmas week, every week, and have increased slots to reach 20% more customers than usual,” says Ben Stimson, Waitrose.com Director. “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.”
The service, which enables shoppers to have up to 25 grocery items delivered within two hours or less or on the same day, has been trialled from eight London shops, as well as in Hove, East Sussex. It now will be available in the areas surrounding an additional 20 shops across London.
Waitrose has also announced that it will offer an additional 10,000 online grocery collection slots, taking the total number available each week to 30,000, by introducing its online collection service in around 70 additional shops across the UK by the end of May. Forty shops are expected to offer this by the end of April. As with Waitrose.com delivery slots, at least a quarter of collection slots will be also reserved for the elderly and vulnerable.
Grocery collection has already launched in its shops in Kingston, Sevenoaks, Wimbledon, East Sheen, Westfield White City, Northwood and Bloomsbury with more being rolled out in the coming weeks.
Stimson says “we have recruited hundreds of drivers and increased the number of extra people-hours picking Waitrose.com orders by nearly 50%.”
