Just Eat Takeaway aims direct attack at Gorillas

Just when flash deliveries are forced to scale down, Just Eat Takeaway goes on the offensive. The company is going to trial its own flash deliveries, and all of that in Berlin – Gorillas‘ home base.

Two kilometres in 20 minutes

Just Eat Takeaway is heading for the gorilla’s den: the meal delivery company is launching its own grocery delivery service – including a dark store – in Berlin, where flash delivery company Gorillas is based. According to Just Eat Takeaway, this is a trial, after the group rolled out a similar model – Skip Express Lane – nationwide in Canada.

The service is called Lieferando Express and runs from a dark store (a supermarket closed to the public) in the Charlottenburg area. Consumers can initially have their goods delivered to their homes within a radius of two kilometres and the company is aiming for a delivery time of 20 minutes.

For its offer, Lieferando Express works directly with a range of local vendors and companies, including a kombucha producer and coffee roaster. Just Eat Takeaway promises to offer more than a thousand products, including household and baby products. For the delivery Lieferando (Express) will use its existing couriers.

Network effects

Just Eat Takeaway is not only looking for new growth, but especially for profit. The company hopes to achieve that with the new branch ‘convenience grocery’. Interim COO Andrew Kenny sees it this way: “Grocery and convenience represent an additional market opportunity that further enhances our consumer proposition, drives network effects and brand loyalty, and improves utilisation of our delivery fleet. After a successful rollout in Canada, the test shop in Berlin will give us further insight into the market potential in Europe.”

The choice is remarkable, as flash delivery company Gorillas is just pulling out of several markets because it is not achieving profitable, sustainable growth. It also remains to be seen whether the first-mover will simply let the sudden newcomer take the spotlights. Moreover, it is remarkable that Just Eat and Gorillas are working together in Spain.