United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) has signed a reseller agreement with DoorDash to provide on-demand grocery delivery services to independent retailers, according to a press release.
UNFI’s agreement will help local grocers build an eCommerce and delivery offering, the release stated. It will also help UNFI expand its end-to-end and last-mile delivery systems.
DoorDash’s addition will allow consumers to order groceries and other items through the app without a time slot, queue or minimum order size, according to the release. The agreement will also aid independent grocery retailers with growing business, reeling in new shoppers and offering more ways to service current customers, some in remote areas through online shopping.
“We are excited to work with UNFI to empower local grocers to build an eCommerce and delivery offering that will give customers access to robust local grocery selection on the DoorDash app,” said DoorDash Vice President of New Verticals Fuad Hannon in the release. “We are proud to play a part in helping local grocers grow their businesses and helping consumers access convenient, on-demand grocery delivery from their local neighborhoods.”
UNFI Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Matt Whitney said in the release that the arrangement will be advantageous.
“Our relationship with DoorDash will make it easier for independent retailers to offer online grocery ordering and delivery,” he said in the release. “We know demand for this functionality continues to be very strong, and to remain competitive, retailers need solutions that offer simple installation and avoid extra labor costs. As the leading last-mile logistics company, DoorDash already has the extensive logistics network in place for grocers to leverage.”
eCommerce is becoming more common, with customers increasingly expecting their orders to arrive quicker — sometimes within the same afternoon.
Read more: Two-Hour Delivery Becoming ‘One of the Expectations’ for Consumers
According to Ben Jones, founder and CEO of eCommerce fulfillment platform Ohi, the problem is that it’s difficult to compete with the companies offering better and better convenience.
“I don’t think anyone needed two-day delivery of anything, but as soon as you could get everything in two days, you wanted everything in two days,” he said. “And I think it’s the same trend. As consumers realize that it’s actually possible to order anything they want online and to get it in less than an hour, that starts to become one of the expectations.”
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