Rocket Internet launches Instacart clone Shopwings

Rocket Internet has done it again. It launched a service that bears a striking resemblance to another hot startup. This time it copied the fast-growing grocery ordering and delivery service Instacart, that closed a €35 million round four months ago. ShopWings has launched today and is also an online supermarket that delivers daily goods from local grocery stores.

And just like Instacart, ShopWings also works with ‘personal shoppers’ in the customer’s area who pick up and deliver the groceries to the customer’s house.  Instacart however, is only available in the US at the moment, but is planning to expand to new markets with the raised millions. So in Europe ShopWings got launched just in time. If it will grow as fast as other Rocket Internet startups did in the past, ShopWings could be a very major competitor to Instacart whenever that company decides to set foot in Europe. ShopWings starts its service in Munich, but the idea is to rapidly expand to other cities in Germany.

This is how ShopWings works
The concept is as follows: the consumer who doesn’t like to go to the supermarket or just doesn’t have any time, goes to the website of ShopWings and selects the food and drink products that he wants. A so called shoppers then goes shopping for him and delivers the products to the desired location within two hours. The customer needs to pay in advance via the website, and the delivery times depend of course on the opening times of supermarkets. Delivery costs are €4.90.

Online shopping will expand a lot
“We believe people are busy, and busy people seek modern solutions that save them time”, co-founder Florian Jaeger told TechCrunch. “ShopWings exists to replace the hassle of traditional shopping with an innovative, time-saving alternative, so our customers can get exactly what they need, when they need it.” He added: “Germans spend over two years of their lifetime in grocery stores. It therefore seems obvious to us, that online shopping will expand a lot in coming years, saving people time for the really important things.”