More than 500 products will be available, including ready meals, milk, cleaning essentials, beer and wine in a trial with Deliveroo. It will begin on Tuesday at outlets in Bracknell, Berks, and Clifton in Bristol, while from Thursday it will be available at the Fitzroy Street shop in Cambridge, and Surbiton, south-west London, and Notting Hill in west London.
Customers will be able to place orders from one hour after the store opens until one hour before it closes.
The trial will work with Waitrose’s two-hour home delivery service which the store chain says has had a three-fold increase in transactions compared with before the pandemic as people avoided stores during lockdown.
James Bailey, executive director for Waitrose, said: “Our trial with Deliveroo has huge potential to give new and existing customers greater choice and flexibility for when and how they want to shop with Waitrose.”
Waitrose will make use of Deliveroo’s more than 30,000 riders to make the doorstep deliveries.
Ajay Lakhani, vice president of new business at Deliveroo, said: “Deliveroo’s on-demand grocery services have proven vital for so many people during this difficult period, allowing families to get the items they want and need quickly without having to leave home.
“This new partnership will bring Waitrose’s fantastic product range to people in as little as 30 minutes.
“We are excited about working with such a brilliant British brand, bringing people the food they need and want, on-demand.”
The partnership with Deliveroo is part of a major shake-up at the John Lewis Partnership, the parent company ofWaitrose. It said in July it would shut eight stores, putting 1,300 jobs, at risk amid a drop in sales.
Details of the new trial are at Waitrose.com/deliveroo from today.