Waitrose tests grocery delivery while customers are out

Waitrose is the first supermarket in the United Kingdom that will test the delivery of groceries to customers’ home addresses, while they aren’t at home. The supermarket, now officially called Waitrose & Partners, will test the ‘While You’re Away’ service with 100 customers in the south London area.

If the trial happens to be a success, Waitrose & Partners aims to roll out the grocery delivery service to over 1,000 customers next spring. The supermarket will use smart lock technology from Yale, which lets customers give access to a delivery driver by setting a temporary access code for the lock. Once the delivery is complete, the code gets deleted.

Driver will wear chest-cam

Whenever a driver delivers the goods, he will put refrigerated and frozen goods away in the fridge and leaver the other groceries as instructed by the customer. Consumers who are afraid the driver will snoop through their personal stuff can always check the video that’s captured on a chest-cam worn by the driver.

For now, there’s a minimum order of 25 pounds (over 28 euros) and there’s a minimum number of six orders, but that’s because there are currently only a hundred customers involved. After the trial, the exact details will be reviewed.

‘In-home delivery proved popular in other countries’

“The concept of in-home delivery has started to prove popular in other countries so we are keen to establish if there is an appetite for it in the UK“, Archie Mason, head of business development from Waitrose & Partners, said. ” Rather than waiting for a delivery or trying to put everything away, it gives customers more flexibility to use that time differently, including more time enjoying cooking and eating the food they’ve bought.”