12 Feb The secret grocery stores delivering food in under 15 minutes
Secret grocery stores called ‘dark stores’ are revolutionising the way consumers shop, claiming to deliver food to buyers doors in under 15 minutes.
The ‘dark stores’ are located in warehouses in Sydney and Melbourne and are becoming an increasingly popular choice for shoppers looking for a stress-free, contact-free shop.
The secret stores are run through mobile apps where customers order their desired foods and groceries, much like ‘Uber Eats’. Employees called ‘pickers’ receive the prospective order via the app where they then ‘pick’ out the relevant food and deliver them directly to the customer’s door.
VOLY and SEND are two of the more popular ‘dark stores’ in Sydney and Melbourne, both stores run by the same owners. In a recent interview, the team behind the growing phenomenon took Today inside their secret stores and explained how they were run.
CEO of VOLY and SEND, Rob Adams, said the company really took off when they secured a supply of Rapid Antigen tests (RAT’s) and put them for sale via the app.
“It was really crazy actually, there was one week in January where we got 15,000 new users in one week,” he told Today.
“A lot of them were buying RAT tests and a lot of them were sticking around just continuing to buy groceries.”
Co-founder, Mark Heath, explained that customers were originally using the stores for small grocery shops, but had now made the switch to larger halls.
“It started with people just not going to the convenience store anymore,” he said.
“Now it’s switching to full families and people doing their full shop.”
Due to the current Covid-19 situation and lockdown consequences, major commercial supermarkets have found it difficult to keep up with the high demand of online orders, hence resulting in decreased delivery options available to shoppers.
These new ‘dark stores’ are paving the way for the future, revolutionising the grocery game as consumers know it, and making it easier and quicker than ever to shop for relevant necessities.
Joel Gibson, money columnist from the Sydney Morning Herald, explained that the stores also had the advantage of owning the grocery store.
“They’re vertically integrated so it’s their groceries, it’s their rider, it’s not a rider from one company picking up groceries from a convenience store with another company,” he said.
Despite having a supply of over 2000-plus products available in the stores, he urged consumers not to take advantage of the new convenience and to respect the “design” of their operations.
“This is a great addition to the range of options out there for consumers. Just make sure you use them for what they’re designed for and don’t go and do your big weekly grocery shop on there,” he said.
VOLY and SEND both have online websites for consumers to learn more about how the apps work and why they should “ditch the trolley”.
Article courtesy of Startsat60
