SPAR store operator A.F. Blakemore & Son has introduced home delivery service at 165 of its company-owned stores and is set to offer online ordering in more stores.
The company started home delivery to the vulnerable on 20 March, with dedicated colleagues taking orders over the phone to ensure availability of key products to customers unable to leave the house due to Covid-19.
Whilst the service has seen thousands of orders, A.F. Blakemore has also teamed up with online ordering app Snappy Shopper in a bid to expand the service.
The company has begun the trial of the app in four stores based in the Wrexham area from 2 April, with plans to expand the offer to 250 SPAR stores across A.F. Blakemore’s trading area by the end of this month.
225 SPAR, EUROSPAR and VIVO stores are now delivering across Northern Ireland
There are products on offer from more than 1,000 lines, including bread, milk, groceries, baby care, household, cigarettes and tobacco, alcohol, soft drinks, snacks, newspapers, pet food and more.
Matt Teague, managing director of Blakemore Retail, commented: “As a convenience store operator, we have a unique role to play in our local communities, and over recent weeks we have been able to prioritise our most vulnerable customers by creating a home delivery service specifically for them.
“We acknowledge that a number of our older customers aren’t able or comfortable with solely using online ordering so we have created a system where our stores can support them over the phone.
“Now that we are able to expand our service we’ve partnered with Snappy Shopper to provide a digital solution.
“To date both channels have performed exceptionally well, but most importantly our new services mean that any of our customers who can’t come to stores have a way to ensure that they can continue to receive their daily essentials direct to their door.”
A.F. Blakemore is the largest division of SPAR UK, owning 280 SPAR stores and serving more than 950 in total across England and Wales.
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