The key ingredients for home delivery success

Offering a home delivery service is a natural progression for convenience stores, expanding the reach of the store beyond its traditional catchment area. Being able to add incremental sales with little additional overhead makes complete business sense and is easier to implement than you might think. 

Snappy Shopper is one of the fastest-growing home delivery solution providers. The average sales of the top 20 stores on Snappy Shopper in the 12 months to April 2022 is almost £700,000. The app enables retailers to drive sales and engage with new customers, whilst also continuing to encourage communities to shop with their local retailers. Vitally, retailers have complete control over their product list and pricing on the app, with the ability to manage orders and connect with delivery drivers with ease.

The platform affords retailers the opportunity to drive almost 50% additional revenue from implementing a home delivery service, in a way not possible through footfall. According to our retailer network, around 80% of their customers who use the Snappy Shopper app were acquired through the platform and would never have visited their physical store.

Four key components to home delivery success

There are four key components to maximising the success of your home delivery offering; product range, pricing, customer service and marketing.

1. Provide a varied product range
   A retailer’s menu is so important. We strongly advise a great product range and to minimise substitutions, but if you do come across the need to, always advise the customer before delivery. Making your menu attractive is a vital element. We’re seeing that customers tend to spend more online with 160% increase in customer spend online compared to instore. To offer your customers adequate choice, we recommend having 2,500 of your top-selling SKUs in your online product range. There is also an option to add additional categories to promote seasonal items at times like Christmas and Halloween, meaning you can capitalise on trends throughout the year.
2. Ensure competitive pricing  
   Now more than ever, customers are looking for value when they shop, so it is important that prices are competitive. Snappy Shopper’s online prices are the same as instore, so customers can order with no extra costs. Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat all inflate retailers’ prices, which creates a negative customer experience as they are paying more than they typically would instore. Snappy Shopper allows retailers to sell products at in-store prices.
3. Make every delivery count
   Another key area for success is making each delivery count; we encourage retailers to always deliver on time and to use that delivery to build rapport. Convenience is a key motivator for shoppers when it comes to home delivery. Customers want to receive their order within the stipulated 30-60 minutes with minimal substitutions.
   
   When you’re starting out, handling the delivery process yourself means you learn first-hand how to manage the process efficiently. Within minutes of an order coming in, it’s picked, bagged and taken straight out the door. When your delivery offering is providing an income and you’re ready to invest in a driver, you can then pass on that best practice. Consistency and customer service create brand loyalty and lead to repeat orders.
4. Up the visibility of your offering
   From a marketing perspective it’s all about strong and powerful branding inside and outside the store. Snappy Shopper provides marketing support to maximise success with funded promotions and bespoke advice from our team. We also co-fund car/van wraps to increase the visibility of retailers’ delivery offering. In addition, we see the successful retailers working social media to their advantage - posting regular content that’s relevant to the local community.

To find out more visit Grocery, Alcohol & Snacks Delivered | Snappy Shopper