Uber Partners with Iceland Foods to Enable Rapid Grocery Delivery Services

Uber partners with European supermarket chain Iceland foods.
Iceland foods is the UK’s top online store according to Which?
Service will be tested in Poplar, South Bank and Walworth Road.

The Uber-Iceland deal

Uber Technologies Inc. and Iceland Foods Ltd. have entered into a partnership to facilitate rapid grocery delivery services in the UK. Uber will launch ‘Uber Eats Market’ through which customers will be able to purchase grocery items in around 20 minutes. Uber Eats Market will be available on Uber’s application; it will appear in the grocery section. This is Uber’s first “quick commerce partnership” in the UK.

The first stores to be connected with Uber’s new initiative are located in Walworth road, South Bank and Poplar. Each store will have dedicated staff to pack and deliver orders.

Groceries will be delivered from Iceland’s existing stores. The partnership is different from Uber’s tie-up with French Carrefour SA which offers rapid grocery delivery services via dedicated delivery outlets called micro-fulfillment centers.

More than 1000 items supplied by Iceland Foods will be available to customers on the Uber app. These items include a variety of products – fresh and frozen meat, vegetables, cupboard basics, among others.

Uber’s rapid delivery service

According to McKinsey and Co’s study published on September 22, food delivery has turned into a global market worth $150 billion. Food delivery services got a filip during the pandemic. Social distancing and lockdowns enabled these businesses to expand and grow businesses. In a few Indian cities, Bangalore for instance, grocery delivery services promise to deliver goods within 10 minutes.

Items are available in several established grocery stores across cities. However, Uber’s existing infrastructure including a robust delivery network, an app with a snappy and easy-to-understand interface makes it possible to establish a rapid delivery service.

Iceland foods: UK’s top online supermarket chain

Iceland foods is a UK based supermarket chain established in 1970. As per its website, its operating profit is around £150 million. The supermarket chain specializes in frozen food. Apart from the regular grocery items like produce and meat, they also offer prepared meals. The chain has more than 900 stores in the UK and 40 stores in Europe which are either owned or franchised.

According to Statista, the frozen food market in the UK was worth £7.21 billion in 2020 which was £871 million higher than the previous year.

Notably, Iceland Foods is the first UK supermarket chain to stop using artificial food colors and non-essential preservatives from its in-house products which was 20 years before its rivals did the same. The store has been named UK’s top online store by Which consumer surveys in 2022.

The supermarket chain has several firsts to its name: according to its website, its is the first food retailer in the world to ‘join the Climate Pledge, committing to be Net Zero carbon by 2040.’