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Sobeys parent company Empire Co. Ltd. is hoping a new partnership with Uber Eats and Instacart will give it a bigger chunk of the e-commerce market and help make its online Voilà service profitable.
The move comes four months after Empire decided to slow its e-commerce expansion efforts and end its exclusive partnership with United Kingdom-based technology provider Ocado Group PLC. At the time, Empire chief executive Michael Medline said the decision would allow the company to “pursue complementary growth opportunities in the market.”
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Empire plans to start Instacart and Uber Eats delivery in Ontario and then expand the service across the country. Participating stores include Sobeys, Farm Boy, Longo’s and FreshCo.
Sobeys spokesperson Sarah Dawson played down any suggestion that the new partnership signals trouble for Voilà.
“We believe that Instacart and Uber Eats provide complementary services, offering customers access to multiple banners for their real-time grocery needs,” she said.
“Our Voilà platform offers customers the ability to shop multiple banners in a single shop, delivered to their door within a set delivery window. Partnering with Instacart and Uber Eats creates more avenues through which to meet the demands of a multifaceted customer base.”
Dawson said Uber and Instacart are designed for customers looking “for an immediate service that can deliver in a very short time window.”
She said Empire is hoping the new partnership will add “new incremental sales, increase the size of our overall ecommerce market and help us to gain new customers for Voilà.”
Empire’s latest quarter showed Voilà sales were up 26 per cent compared to the same time last year.
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