Exclusive: Getir teams up with Co-op as rapid delivery firm looks to grow UK presence
Getir has joined forces with Co-op to deliver groceries from the retailer to consumers in a hurry.
The rapid delivery firm will launch a pilot to offer app users hundreds of Co-op products across London from today.
Nisa Retail, Co-op group’s wholesale division, will be working with Getir to supply the range of around 300 products.
The trial with Co-op will include stores in Battersea, Earls Court, Seven Sisters, Balham, Tottenham and Bethnal Green.
It comes as the Istanbul-founded start-up rapidly expanded in the UK during the pandemic but was forced to slash staff numbers by 14 per cent this year.
The deal would help to “meet the needs of our growing community,” Getir’s UK general manager, Kristof Van Beveren, said.
“Getir is committed not only to speed and convenience but to exploring new and innovative
ways to serve customers looking for a broad selection of products and everyday groceries,” he said.
This follows partnerships between rivals, such as Gorillas and Tesco, who inked a deal together to establish co-located warehouses in Tesco stores.
Uber and Iceland
Last week, delivery app Uber announced a partnership with budget supermarket Iceland.
Gorillas’ chief executive officer has previously said the Berlin-based start-up will hunt for new financing as it narrows down on achieving profitability.
In February, Kagan Sumer said he intended to raise at least $700m to turn the 2020-founded company into a profitable one. Around the same time, Getir pledged to hire 6,000 more people in 2022 in the UK.
In recent months, the sector has encountered a more turbulent time with firms slashing headcounts in order to focus on turning a profit. Getir rivals GoPuff and Zapp reduced headcount by 10 per cent.
Getir told CityA.M . it was “not in a position to share any specifics on team sizes,” at the minute, but employed hundreds of UK “central staff” and thousands of couriers and pickers.
The firm “will continue to grow our presence and penetration in the UK, both growing the category and bolstering our position as market leader,” Van Beveren added.
The “majority, if not all” of the GoPuff’s direct competitors “won’t be in existence in the next six-12 months, Dan Folkman, the firm’s senior vice president, told CityA.M. this month.
Getir, which was valued at $11.8bn last year, is reportedly in talks to snap up rival Gorillas, with a proposed deal that would be a mix of cash and equity.
Consolidation of the fledgling sector has previously seen Getir takeover of UK startup Weezy, Gorillas acquire the French Frichti, and GoPuff purchase European-based firms Dija and Fancy.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on the excellent range of products we make available and so giving customers the best possible choices when it comes to groceries and combining that with the convenience of rapid home delivery was a natural fit,” James Roberts, head of sales and wholesale corporate development at Nisa, said.