Sainsbury’s is trialling the UK’s first grocery delivery service by electric cargo bike. The fleet of five zero emission bikes will be trialled across South London – delivering up to 100 orders a day to local customers who have shopped online.
The trial is being launched with e-cargobikes.com who are providing the bikes, which have enough capacity to carry several customer orders at a time.
Sainsbury’s has launched these trials to test whether delivering groceries by electric cargo bike could be a more efficient way of getting groceries to customers living in busy cities.
The supermarket retailer is to use routing technology to determine which orders are delivered by a traditional van or by electric cargo bike.
“We’re delighted to be the first supermarket to trial grocery deliveries by electric cargo bikes,” said Clodagh Moriarty, director of online at Sainsbury’s. “We’re always looking for new ways to make sure we can best serve our customers and this trial will help us explore whether there might be a more flexible way to deliver Sainsbury’s groceries to those who live in busy cities.”
James FitzGerald, MD of e-cargobikes.com, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Sainsbury’s on this trial. By taking existing e-cargobike technology and putting it to the test in a new market, we’re reimagining grocery deliveries and exploring a more sustainable transport system.”
Source: Logistics Manager