Sainsbury’s extends one-hour grocery-by-bike service

Sainsbury’s has rolled out its pilot one-hour grocery-by-bike service, Chop Chop, across Central London following a limited trial earlier this summer.

The home delivery services allows customers to order up to 20 items using the Chop Chop app, which are delivered within an hour by a team of riders for a standard £4.99 delivery charge.

The service was introduced in its Wandsworth store in July and was extended to its Pimlico store yesterday, with other areas under consideration. It claims the move means it can deliver to more than 35k postcodes across London.

Sainsbury’s director of digital and technology Jon Rudoe said the trial would give customers more options to shop whenever they want. “Speed of delivery is important to some customers, so we have brought back our bicycle service to test demand further,” he said.

“In Wandsworth customers are using the new one hour delivery service to buy forgotten items, or emergency goods when they cannot leave their home, or have invited guests on the spur of the moment.

“If it proves popular we might introduce it to other areas of London. It complements our same day delivery service which is available at selected London postcodes through our online groceries service.”

The trial will pit it against AmazonPrime and Amazon Pantry, which have a deal with rival Morrisons as well as booze deliver services Deliveroo, DoorDash and Hubbub.

It is in addition to the three London stores, Streatham Common, Richmond and Brookwood, who currently offer a same delivery service across home delivery and Click & Collect, with more set to come on-stream by the end of the year.

Last week the retailer opened its new fulfillment centre in Bromley-by-Bow, which it says will allow it to serve an extra 25,000 customers each week across the capital.