grocery delivery

Report: Kroger’s drone delivery takes flight

Just one month after announcing it would begin drone delivery service in Centerville, Ohio, grocery chain Kroger officially kicked off the service on Wednesday, according to a report in the Journal-News.

The drone service, provided by Drone Express, a division of Telegrid Technologies, will transport items up to 5 pounds from the Kroger store located at Centerville Kroger Marketplace. New Jersey-based Drone Express is operating the service using technology based in its nearby Monroe, Ohio,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/report-krogers-drone-delivery-takes-flight

Name That Tune: The ‘unsustainable’ grocery delivery wars

The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.

The promise of home delivery in just 15 minutes is the latest bid to win the “grocery wars,” according to recent industry trade press. There is the occasional need for speedy delivery. Just how speedy is necessary, how frequently is it needed, and how much are consumers willing to pay for it?

The competition to win more grocery customers with fast home delivery...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/name-that-tune-the-unsustainable-grocery-delivery-wars

Amazon opens up in-garage grocery delivery to all Prime members

Amazon expands in-garage grocery delivery service to all Prime members

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is expanding its in-garage grocery delivery service, Key by Amazon, to more than 5,000 U.S. cities and towns. The service was launched in November in five cities.

“Customers who tried Key In-Garage Grocery Delivery have loved the service, which is why we’re expanding it to everywhere Amazon offers grocery delivery,” said Pete Gerstberger, head of Key by Amazon. “As customers look for more convenience in their daily lives, we’re excited to deliver another service that not...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/amazon-opens-up-in-garage-grocery-delivery-to-all-prime-members

Weee! raises $315M to expand ethnic grocery delivery network

Online ethnic grocery delivery platform Weee! announced it has raised $315 million in a Series D round led by DST Global, with participation from Tiger Global Management, Blackstone Group and Arena Holdings. The Fremont, California-based company has raised a total of $415 million, with Bloomberg reporting a $2.8 billion valuation.

Weee! caters to ethnic communities, mainly providing access to Asian and Hispanic foods. Weee! currently offers free delivery, on orders of $35 or more, for more than...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/weee-raises-315m-to-expand-ethnic-grocery-delivery-network

Instacart may delay IPO until late 2021

After reportedly being prepped for an initial public offering (IPO) early in 2021, Instacart may be rethinking that plan.

According to a Thursday afternoon report by The Information, company executives are worried that buyers of its stock could be worried about the company’s fortunes once the pandemic is over and economies fully reopen. Because of this, the report said Instacart executives are now mulling over a late-2021 IPO.

“That will make it easier for investors to gauge how fast Instacart’s...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/instacart-may-delay-ipo-until-late-2021

Is Instacart headed to be America’s top grocer?

This is an excerpt from Tuesday’s (3/9) Point of Sale retail supply chain newsletter sponsored by ArcBest.

Instacart had a crazy year. Capped off by last week’s funding announcement of another $265 million at a valuation of $39 billion (more than 4x where it was to begin 2020), Instacart has seen every piece of its business explode over the past 12 months. By some accounts, the 8-year-old company now has roughly 50% of the online grocery market. With an IPO almost guaranteed this year, I wanted...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/is-instacart-headed-to-be-americas-top-grocer

Walmart to test temperature-controlled box for grocery home delivery

Walmart to test HomeValet grocery delivery box

According to Karen Bomber, Honeywell’s head of retail insights, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders across the country caused a spike in online grocery ordering in 2020. Bomber, speaking during the National Retail Federation’s Chapter One conference on Tuesday, said online grocery orders jumped from 4% of sales in 2019 to 30% in 2020.

It is a trend she doesn’t see diminishing moving forward, and while many of those orders are in-store pickups, a good portion remains home...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/walmart-to-test-temperature-controlled-box-for-grocery-home-delivery

Online grocery fulfillment in Canada fails to meet expectations (with video)

A white grocery delivery van parked on the street.

Grocery stores in Canada need to invest in robust e-commerce capabilities to prevent a repeat of stock-outs and long delivery delays that disappointed large numbers of customers who opted for virtual shopping at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a food industry expert at the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit.

Canadians are hungry to shop online for food and staples, but the grocery sector’s infrastructure significantly lags demand, said Gary Newbury, who spent 30 years...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/online-grocery-fulfillment-in-canada-fails-to-meet-expectations-with-video

FMCSA extends HOS emergency waiver until end of 2020

Federal regulators have extended a national emergency order exempting carriers and drivers from certain hour-of-service (HOS) regulations until Dec. 31.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) declaration, issued late Friday, is the first multi-month extension of the HOS exemption since the order was initiated in March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The five previous extensions lasted until the following month, with the most recent set to expire on Sept. 14.

“FMCSA is...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-extends-hos-emergency-waiver-until-end-of-2020

FMCSA reinstates groceries, paper products in latest HOS waiver

Emergency restocking of food, paper products and groceries at distribution centers or retail stores once again qualify for the national emergency hours of service (HOS) waiver, according to federal regulators.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had removed those categories when it modified and extended the waiver in June. However, “because of current conditions” related to COVID-19 relief, the agency decided to place those items back on the list of cargo that qualifies for...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/fmcsa-reinstates-groceries-paper-products-in-latest-hos-waiver

+ More