Executive Briefing
Is 15-minute grocery delivery a brand or a feature?
Look out, Safeway. Gorillas is coming.
By Dan Frommer on Saturday, September 4, 2021 at 8:00 am
The latest online grocery services are all about speed, promising on-demand shopping and deliveries that arrive in minutes.
In parts of New York City, a startup called Fridge No More is offering 15-minute delivery with no minimum order or delivery fees. Gorillas, a Berlin-based startup founded last year — which has already raised hundreds of millions of dollars in financing, and pledges 10-minute delivery — has also launched in New York. As has the similar Jokr, which is also live in Mexico City, Lima, Warsaw, and Vienna.
These companies generally operate with a similar strategy: Blanket a city with a network of small, centrally located, street-level fulfillment centers; offer a curated selection of grocery products via mobile app; pack orders as quickly as possible; and dispatch them via a force of delivery drivers, usually on e-bikes or scooters.
If it works as designed — still an if — your box of spaghetti may arrive before the water is boiling.
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