Waitrose are set to trial a new delivery service which will allow customers to have drivers enter their homes and unpack their shopping for them while they are out.
The new ‘While you're away’ service will initially be trialled amongst 100 customers who live near the companies South London warehouse.
The service will utilise Yale smart lock technology. The customer can set a temporary access code which will allow the driver access to the home. The code will be sent to Waitrose via a secure app. The code will then be forwarded to the driver, and deleted automatically once the delivery has been made.
The driver will put away frozen and refrigerated goods, and will leave other groceries on the counter, all whilst wearing a camera, which will film the whole delivery. The footage form the camera can then be requested by the customer by the next working day.
There will be a minimum charge of £25 for the service, and currently a minimum of six orders. This will be reviewed once the service is fully rolled out.
If successful, the service will rolled out to 1,000 customers by spring 2019.
Archie Mason, head of business development from Waitrose & Partners, said: “There is certainly an increasing demand among our customers to make shopping with us even more convenient to fit around their busy lifestyles. Rather than waiting for a delivery or trying to put everything away, it gives customers more flexibility to use that time differently, including more time enjoying cooking and eating the food they've bought. The concept of ‘in-home delivery’ has started to prove popular in other countries so we are keen to establish if there is an appetite for it in the UK.”
