Colruyt starts home delivery: “Reaching half the population within a year”

Belgian retail group Colruyt has started its home delivery service today, starting a trial in parts of Antwerp and Brussels. However, the retailer wants to expand its new service quickly, combining own and private drivers.

Antwerp and Brussels

From its new e-commerce distribution centre in Londerzeel, which can handle up to million reservations per year, Colruyt’s e-commerce branch Collect&Go will deliver groceries in a number areas with high population density using its own drivers. The project starts in seven municipalities near Brussels (Auderghem, Etterbeek, Kraainem, Watermael-Boitsfort, Wezembeek-Oppem, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre), two municipalities near Antwerp (Edegem and Mortsel) and two districts of Antwerp (Hoboken and Wilrijk).

The service offers its customers a choice of 10,000 articles, with a next-day delivery promise (excluding Sundays), at a cost of 7 euros (on top of the 5.95 euros Collect&Go already charges for the preparation of online orders to be collected at pick-up points). The drivers will take back empty bottles and accept coupons, which are immediately deducted from the total amount.

“We have been market leader for years with our shopping service, but the e-commerce landscape is changing and there is a demand for new services. That is why we are now going to roll out home delivery”, Collect&Go manager Tom De Prater explains Colruyt Group’s somewhat belated start with home delivery.

Private drivers

In less densely populated areas, private drivers will deliver groceries to neighbours’ homes from Collect&Go pick-up points. Colruyt Group already started such a “driver” platform in 2020, launched a new app in October and now has 500 drivers delivering the groceries from 26 pick-up points in Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Halle, Hasselt, Leuven, Liège, Namur, Roeselare and Wavre. At the end of June, Courtrai, Ostend and Turnhout will be added.

This form of delivery also costs (an additional) 7 euros, which goes to the deliverers. “The combination of both models is unique. We are convinced that within a year, we will be able to deliver the groceries to half of the Belgian households”, De Prater says. He also points out that Collect&Go has experienced spectacular growth in the past two years: 250,000 new customers helped turnover increase by 50 %.