Buymie partners with Co-op as it enters UK market

25 May 2020

Image: © SkyLine/Stock.adobe.com

Grocery delivery company Buymie has agreed a deal with UK supermarket chain Co-op, and will start rolling out its services in Bristol.

Dublin start-up Buymie has entered the UK market for the first time, through a grocery delivery partnership with the Co-op supermarket chain in Bristol.

As part of the new deal, more than 200,000 households in Bristol will be able to use the Buymie app to order 4,000 Co-op products. Home delivery on Buymie’s platform can be scheduled in as little as an hour, or scheduled for up to a week later.

The company said that it will be creating 200 personal shopper jobs in Bristol over the next six months through this deal.

In Ireland, Buymie provides a personalised grocery delivery service for Lidl and Tesco.

It offers its services through a mobile app, which is available to 490,000 households in Dublin, as well as parts of Kildare and Wicklow. Customers can note specific preferences on their order or can arrange to be contacted if items are unavailable.

Accelerated expansion plans

Due to coronavirus restrictions, there has been increased demand for grocery delivery services in recent months. The start-up’s service in the UK will sit alongside Co-op’s own same-day delivery offer and dedicated online shop.

Buymie CEO and co-founder Devan Hughes said: “We have accelerated our UK expansion plans to support our retail partners in offering same-day delivery capacity, with Bristol being our first city to launch. We are investing heavily in Bristol as a community, and will be creating over 200 personal shopper jobs in our first six months.”

Jason Perry, head of online development at Co-op, added that partnering with Buymie “allows us to continue to expand access to our products online, and offer greater flexibility and choice to meet consumer needs in our communities”.

At the end of April, Buymie closed €2.2m in funding in a round led by Act Venture Capital, with participation from Sure Valley Ventures, Haatch Ventures, Buymie chair Eamonn Quinn, BVP Investments, Enterprise Ireland and angel investors.

Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com