Deliveroo expands into reading materials

Deliveroo is expanding its services: the courier company is starting a partnership with book chain WH Smith to deliver books and stationery in ten British cities.

Increasing customer satisfaction

In the ten cities, consumers can now have not only meals and groceries, but also books, office supplies, phone chargers, toys and study guides delivered to their homes within 20 minutes by Deliveroo’s bicycle couriers. This concerns some 600 products of the WH Smith bookstore chain, which sees a partnership with the delivery company as a new opportunity to further increase service and customer satisfaction.

The book chain’s online shop – which tripled its sales in spring and summer 2020 – already offered customers the option to have orders delivered to their homes or picked up in shop the next day, and is now shifting up a gear. The new service was launched in Reading – pun probably intended – on Tuesday and will be rolled out to nine additional shops across the country next week.

More work for couriers

For Deliveroo, the partnership means more work for riders across the United Kingdom, CEO Carlo Mocci told The Guardian. The courier company originally started out delivering restaurant meals, but has been steadily expanding its services to other products and sectors in recent years.

Today, the company also delivers groceries for several European supermarket chains, including Morrison, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco in the UK and Carrefour in Belgium, France, Italy and Spain. Deliveroo also already works with pharmacy chain Lloyds Pharmacy and wine specialist Majestic Wine. Aldi recently ended its cooperation with the bicycle couriers.