Aldi teams up with Deliveroo to trial home deliveries

Supermarket chain Aldi is partnering with food delivery service Deliveroo to trial home grocery deliveries for customers in Dublin.

Under the trial, which gets under way at two stores in the capital this week, customers will be able to order from more than 140 items in Aldi via the Deliveroo app. All orders are then packed by Aldi staff, with contact-free deliveries done through the food courier company’s network of more than 1,000 riders.

A range of essential items, such as bread, milk and fresh produce, will be available for delivery in as little as 30 minutes, Aldi said.

The fast delivery service is available as of now from Aldi's East Wall store in Dublin 3, and will be extended to the Terenure store on Wednesday. If successful, it could roll out to further Aldi stores by the end of 2020.

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A €4.99 service and delivery charge applies, with minimum orders worth €25 rising to a maximum €75.

The trial is the first major on-demand convenience partnership for Deliveroo in the Republic, although it did roll out a similar service with Aldi in Britain in May.

Deliveroo, which also counts Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and the Co-Op as partners in the UK, earlier this year began signing up a number of convenience stores locally for grocery services, including Spar, Mace and Londis.

Niall O'Connor, group managing director for Aldi in Ireland and Britain, said the new service would be particularly welcomed by older and vulnerable customers.

“We hope the new trial with Deliveroo will provide more customers with access to great quality, affordable food at Aldi,” he said.

“This is a new and exciting venture for Aldi and we will be constantly reviewing how we can best serve our customers and continue to provide them with the high quality products they are used to in store,” Mr O’Connor added.

Aldi's expansion into grocery deliveries comes as supermarkets here seek to respond to increased demand, albeit with customers still cautious about shopping in person following the coronavirus pandemic. Tesco Ireland last week reported a 50.9 per cent jump in online sales for the three months to the end of May.

Rival discount supermarket chain Lidl has a rapid delivery partnership with Irish start-up Buymie, which also works with Tesco locally.