Lidl extends grocery delivery in Ireland

Supermarket chain Lidl has extended its online grocery shopping and home delivery service in Ireland. The service, operated by grocery delivery startup Buymie, was already active in Dublin and now extends into the commuter counties surrounding the capital.

Lidl launched the online grocery shopping and home delivery service across much of Dublin in January and this week it announced the service was being extended to Bray, Greystones, Maynooth and Celbridge.

7 euros for delivery within the hour

Irish customers of Lidl who want to make use of the online shopping service, need to pay a €6.99 fee for delivery within one hour, €4.99 for two hours, and €3.99 for three hours. For orders with a value above 100 euros, delivery is free. But Lidl shoppers also need to pay a fee to Buymie. It starts at 14.75 percent of the basket cost and declines to 9.75 percent for orders above 120 euros.

Lidl uses Buymie

As said, for the home delivery of groceries, Lidl makes use of Buymie. This is an Irish startup that raised 525,000 euros last month, and has its total funding stands at just over 2 million euros. Through the Buymie app, users can order their groceries from local stores and have these delivered to their homes. Buymie links online customers with personal shoppers who travel to a store to buy the products and then deliver them in their own car for a fee.

Launch in UK is planned

According to CEO Devan Hughes, the app recently entered the top 10 for food app downloads in Ireland and has grown significantly over the last year. Buymie has partnered with Lidl for a number of its (near-)Dublin stores and is said to also plan a launch in the United Kingdom in the future.