Canadian E-Grocer Offers 1-Hour Delivery in Key Markets
While grocery delivery wars are well underway in the United States as companies try to top each other in being the fastest, the competition in Canada is starting to heat up as well. Canadian e-grocer Goodfood Market Corp. is introducing free one-hour or less delivery to high-density markets throughout the month of November, including 18 neighborhoods in Toronto and Montreal. Its first area is now operational and available to more than 1 million customers in downtown Toronto.
Goodfood Market is meeting consumer demand for more rapid delivery times by leveraging its infrastructure and continuing to invest in technology, staffing and cloud stores.
In addition, Goodfood is expanding its platform and meal kit subscription service to offer thousands of grocery items as well as restaurant-quality meal kits and ready-to-eat offerings.
“Goodfood is making it easier for Canadians to get fresh, unique, high-quality grocery items and meal kits fast, because, as we all know, the way we live, work and shop has dramatically changed,” said Jonathan Ferrari, CEO of Goodfood, which has its main production facility and administrative offices in Montreal. “We want to continue to support and empower Canadians’ food convenience, efficiency and discovery in the kitchen — whether they are brand-new or seasoned home cooks.”
Ferrari indicated that the company will extend one-hour grocery delivery to new cities over the coming months.
One-hour delivery is one of the many initiatives the online grocery company is driving to innovate the way Canadians think about and access groceries. Earlier this quarter, Goodfood launched same-day unlimited delivery service in the metro Vancouver area. The brand also partnered with Plug-In BC to launch Canada’s first fully electric refrigerated vehicle fleet now serving Vancouver.
In June, the Canadian online grocer leased its first tech-enabled local fulfilment center in Ottawa, with automation capabilities able to deliver 4,000 products on a same-day or faster basis. The automation infrastructure is supported by such technology as Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure cloud-computing solutions, in addition to Goodfood proprietary software for order orchestration and delivery optimization.
Goodfood recently celebrated an impressive third quarter. For the quarter ended May 31, the company reached record quarterly revenue of CAN $107.8 million, an increase of CAN $21.2 million, or 24%, year over year. Gross margin was 35%, an improvement of 6.2 percentage points, and gross profit increased to CAN $37.7 million, an improvement of CAN $12.8 million, or 51%.
