Uber Eats Helps Ahold Delhaize Expand Grocery Delivery

Grocery giant Ahold Delhaize has expanded its delivery partnership with Uber Eats.

The collaboration, announced Monday (May 4), makes nearly 2,000 Ahold stores available on the Uber Eats marketplace. The company’s stores include Food Lion, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop.

“Customers expect flexibility in how they shop, and that means being wherever they are — whether through our own brand experiences or trusted marketplaces like Uber Eats,” said Keith Nicks, chief commercial and digital officer, Ahold Delhaize USA. “This partnership reinforces our brands’ commitments to being leading omnichannel retailers, making it even easier for customers to access the brands they know and trust.”

With the expanded partnership, customers can shop directly in the Uber Eats app, with the two companies offering a launch-related promotion that gives them $0 delivery fees on their first order. The collaboration also builds on the relationship between Ahold Delhaize USA and Uber Direct, giving Ahold Delhaize USA brands access to Uber’s network of couriers.

Ahold Delhaize reported an uptick in quarterly revenue in February, fueled by increasing online grocery sales in the U.S. Revenues were up 6.1%, helped by a 22.8% jump in digital sales.

The company used its earnings call to tout some of the keys to this growth, like its in-house “click-and-collect” software system Prism, and collaborations with DoorDash and Instacart.

“So we talk about online a lot,” J.P, O’Meara, the company’s head of investor relations, said during an earnings call. “The teams are so convinced that omnichannel is the name of the game. Those customers are more loyal, store and online connected.”

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found a sharp spike in digital grocery buying, with the number of digital-only shoppers climbing from just 0.2% before the pandemic to 7.2%.

That’s a 3,600% increase, representing an estimated 16 million U.S. shoppers, most of them bridge millennials and millennials. The research found that 11% of bridge millennials and 13% of millennials turn to digital channels to purchase all their common household products.

“Consumers are increasingly turning to digital grocery shopping for two primary reasons: convenience and better deals,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year. “Sixty-two percent cited convenience as a major factor for going digital, with 36% saying this was their top motivation. The possibility of better deals and benefits lured 54% of consumers into shopping via digital channels, with 32% highlighting it as their top reason.”