In Ixelles (Brussels), Colruyt has launched a new variant of its grocery delivery service. Collect&Go City brings groceries ordered online by cargo bike to Place Flagey, where customers can pick them up.
Time gain
The new ‘Collect&Go City’ service is specifically tailored to the city. “City dwellers are a separate target audience with specific needs,” says Tom Deprater, responsible for Collect&Go, to Bruzz. “They do small shopping several times a week, often ‘on the go’. They have a heightened awareness of sustainability, food waste and packaging, and nowadays they lose quite a lot of time in small city shops”.
That’s why Collect&Go City will do the shopping for them. The groceries will then be transported by cargo bike to Place Flagey, where customers can come and pick them up. Project manager Hilde Marcelis points out in Het Nieuwsblad that Collect&Go barely makes it into the city centres. “After all, many people use the system for large orders. Together with our clients, we devised and discussed this project”.
Test period
Customers can choose from an assortment of 500 fresh products and meals. “This allows us to respond to the different needs of our customers,” says Tom Deprater. “For example, customers will find about 15 recipe ideas, all of which they can add to their shopping basket in 1 click. In addition, we will mainly offer a lot of prepared meals and convenience”. Customers can order ready meals from Colruyt’s chilled department, as well as the fresh meals from Rose Mary, the ‘dark kitchen’ that was launched at the beginning of last month.
The new concept will now be tested in Brussels for about nine weeks. This will be followed by an extensive evaluation. It may also be rolled out to other cities. It is the first time that Collect&Go uses the bicycle as a means of transport for groceries. Rose Mary already delivers by bike. Competitor Carrefour has been delivering groceries by (electric) bicycle for some time now. The Shipto service was recently extended to Liège. It was previously available in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent.
