The Co-op is launching a 24-hour online grocery delivery service

⚡Q-Commerce

• Quick-commerce startup Flink raises another $150M at a valuation of nearly $1B. Flink, a quick-commerce startup out of Berlin that was an acquisition target of Gorillas, Getir, Amazon, and Gopuff, is spelling out how it plans to go forth on its own (Techcrunch).

• iPhone 16 Goes on Sale in India: Blinkit, BigBasket, And Zepto Offer 10-Minute Delivery; iPhone 16 On Sale In India: As the iPhone 16 series went on sale in India, several customers thronged Apple’s Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and Apple Saket stores in Mumbai and Delhi, respectively (Zee News). 

• Rapid growth of quick commerce fuels wave of ‘enabler’ tech startups. A new wave of ‘enabler’ startups is revolutionizing India’s quick commerce ecosystem, driven by the growth of hyperlocal startups and established e-commerce firms (The Economic Times).

🍏 Grocery Delivery

• Delivery app order software firm Deliverect launches grocery offering. Deliverect said early adopters of the new solution had experienced a doubling in weekly sales and had cut the time to pick and pack orders in half (The Grocer).

• The Future of Grocery Online Market Estimated to Reach USD 3,396.9 Billion by 2033. The online grocery market is forecasted to be valued at approximately USD 377.4 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to USD 3,396.9 billion by 2033 (FMI Blog).

• Co-op launches 24-hour rapid grocery delivery service. The Co-op is launching a 24-hour online grocery delivery service for shoppers in city centre stores as it looks to respond to the growing demand for rapid delivery (Grocery Gazette).

• Coles changes the online grocery landscape opening its first world-class automated Customer Fulfilment Centre. Coles has marked the start of another exciting chapter in its technology-led supply chain innovation journey, with the official opening of its first Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) in Victoria, bringing together world-class technology and automation to enhance the shopping experience for Coles Online customers in greater Melbourne (Markets Insider).

• Grocery delivery is less sustainable than shopping in store. New research examines the impact, energy use, emissions, and traffic congestion (Supermarket News).

• Stick with Uber Eats: Olive Garden is rolling out home food delivery with a twist. The family-style Italian restaurant chain says customers have been asking for additional delivery options. Now it’s finally giving in (Fast Company).

🛸 Delivery Tech

• Kiwibot acquires an ad startup to turn its delivery robots into mobile billboards. From the standpoint of any advertising executive, Kiwibot has left a lot of money on the table since its robots began making food deliveries on the UC Berkeley campus back in 2017 (Techcrunch).

• Are grocery shoppers ready for drones? Consumers are frustrated with the grocery shopping experience and drone delivery may solve some of their pain points (CSA).

• You might get offered promo codes if one of these delivery robots runs into you. A Starship Technologies food delivery robot knocked over an Arizona State University employee last fall, then came back and struck them again (The Verge).

 E-Commerce

• Logistics capabilities amid Southeast Asia’s e-commerce boom. The e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia has been growing at an unprecedented rate, with the market projected to reach a staggering US$186 billion by 2025, up from US$139 billion in 2023 (Air Cargo Week).

• Finance leaders struggle with the speed of ecommerce. B2B ecommerce is currently going through a fast-paced evolution, with the market being set to a total of USD 2.641 trillion in 2024. Hokodo’s report has revealed that many finance functions and enterprises are not future-proofed. In fact, its pan-industry survey of CFOs and finance leaders revealed that nearly of fifth (17%) of them feel that their finance teams are not prepared for the future (The Paypers). 

• Ikea is launching second-hand marketplace. Furniture retailer Ikea plans to launch a marketplace where customers can sell their pre-owned Ikea furniture to other consumers. By doing that, it wants to expand its online revenue. The company launched a pilot in Spain and Norway (Ecommerce News).