Co-op

Co-op, Starship Technologies extend robot delivery partnership

Consumers in the Blackthorn, Far Cotton, Grange Park, Southfields andThornton Park areas of Northampton can now access the same-day delivery service.

Co-op and Starship Technologies have extended their partnership in Northampton, with an additional 20,000 households in the area now able to access the service and receive on-demand grocery delivery via robots.

Consumers in Blackthorn, Far Cotton, Grange Park, Southfields and Thornton Park can now access same-day delivery through a fleet of Starship robots.

Orders are made through the Starship food delivery app, which is available for download on iOS and Android, with groceries picked fresh in local Co-op stores – which act as micro-distribution hubs – and delivered in as little as one hour or less.

Consumers can choose from a range of more than 2,000 grocery items and watch in real-time via an interactive map as the robot makes its journey to them. Once the robot arrives, they receive an alert, and can meet and unlock it through the app.

Chris Conway, Co-op’s Head of eCommerce, said: “Co-op is committed to exploring new and innovative ways to increase access to our products and services. Orders are picked locally, in-store, and a key part of our strategy is to use our physical footprint to also offer same-day, rapid, home deliveries.”

Andrew Curtis, UK Operations Manager at Starship Technologies, added: “Local residents in Northampton have embraced the benefits of contactless delivery over the past 18+ months and we are very happy to be able to offer our service to even more communities across the town from today.

“The environmental benefits of autonomous delivery are clear, and it has also been very encouraging to see how much the robots have been welcomed and integrated as part of the local community in Northampton.”