Co-op extends robot delivery partnership

Co-op has extended its on-demand grocery delivery via robots in Northampton to further five stores across the town.

The robot delivery partnership with Starship Technologies will now cover an additional 20,000 households in the area, offering same-day delivery through a fleet of Starship robots, bringing the total number of households across Northampton able to access Starship’s service in the area to over 80,000.

Orders are made through the Starship food delivery app, with groceries picked fresh in local Co-op stores – which act as micro-distribution hubs – and delivered in as little as one hour or less.

“As a convenience retailer, the ability to come into stores is important to customers, but shoppers also increasingly want flexible options online – our focus is on getting closer to our customers and to provide what they need, conveniently, however they choose to shop with us,” Chris Conway, Co-op’s head of ecommerce, said.

Since first launching the service in Northampton in November 2020, Starship, working with the support of West Northamptonshire Council, has continued to expand its footprint and offer the ease and convenience of autonomous delivery to more local residents.

Cllr Phil Larratt, West Northamptonshire Council’s portfolio holder for environment, highways, transport and waste, said: “We’re delighted that the Starship robots have been rolled out to thousands more homes in Northampton, offering our residents a convenient, carbon-free way to get their groceries. Harnessing the latest technology and innovative schemes like this will play an increasingly important role as we look at ways of cutting emissions and making West Northants a more sustainable place to live for the future.”

Andrew Curtis, UK operations manager at Starship Technologies, added: “Local residents in Northampton have embraced the benefits of contactless delivery over the last 18+ months and we are very happy to be able to offer our service to even more communities across the town from today. The environmental benefits of autonomous delivery are clear, and it has also been very encouraging to see how much the robots have been welcomed and integrated as part of the local community in Northampton.”

Starship Technologies operates commercially on a daily basis around the world. Its zero-emission robots make more than 100,000 road crossings every day and have completed more than three million commercial deliveries globally. The robots use a combination of sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning to travel on pavements and navigate around any obstacles, while computer vision-based navigation helps them map their environment to the nearest inch.