Germany: Amazon vs Uber - delivery to the last mile

Clothing, shoes, consumer electronics and books are increasingly being bought online but food is still a rather typical offline product. This is now changing: 2017 was the year of online supermarkets in Germany. Edeka, along with Bringmeister, Rewe and Amazon Fresh are just a few of the providers that offer and deliver food online.

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A study from last year showed that one in five people have already bought fresh food online. However, another 10% of respondents said they would like to try this in the near future. So the online food trade will continue to pick up speed - driven by various developments. Here is a selection:

Diverse Players: Not just supermarkets sell food online
It's not just traditional supermarkets like Rewe or Edeka that offer their products online. AllyouneedFresh, for example, is a virtual supermarket that exclusively offers its products online. And Amazon has also expanded its product range with food and offers it via their Prime Service or Amazon Fresh. The acquisition of Whole Food last year has given this situation an extra push: The Amazon Fresh service was able to increase its sales between September and December 2017 by 35%.

Same day delivery
Customers expect flexibility, speed and security in the delivery options of online retailers. Same-day delivery is referred to as the "holy grail" of online retail. And for good reason: those who offer a huge selection and can send orders in the shortest possible time and at the lowest cost, has virtually won. Amazon has tested Same Day Delivery 2009 and is now shaping customer expectations: these customers require flexibility, speed and security in the delivery options of online retailers. And the market responds to this: In the US, 51% of services already offer same-day delivery. Bringmeister and Amazon's food service AmazonFresh also offer same-day delivery.

Innovative last-mile solutions
Deliveries on the last mile account for 30% of total logistical costs and are therefore at the heart of smart, cost-effective solutions. Amazon and taxi App Uber are also dedicated to delivery to the last mile. In order to make itself independent and to save costs, Amazon has already established its own delivery service, AmazonFlex, in 2015 in the USA. Here, private individuals become parcel carriers. The Uber service, founded a little while before that, follows the same principle: UberRush offers online shops a flexible delivery service with independent drivers with their own cars. Since November, AmazonFlex is now also available in Berlin. Flex drivers can deliver parcels as well as food.

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