As the battle heats up for same-day grocery delivery in urban markets, Jet.com is opening a new fulfillment center this fall in the Bronx, NY to service New York City customers with not only food in a flash but other merchandise as well.
Jet.com will use local delivery service provider Parcel for its last-mile fulfillment, which was acquired last fall by Walmart.
The new leased Bronx FC will hold groceries, everyday essentials and some general merchandise from Jet.com. The company will also deliver items through its NY Favorites Shop from local brands such as Roberta’s and The Meatball Shop.
Major competitors in the New York market include Amazon, which offers one- and two-hour delivery of food and general merchandise via Prime Now, including from Whole Foods, FreshDirect, which has been there since 2008 but started doing same day in 2016; Boxed.com’s Boxed Express, Target, Postmates and Instacart.
The recent hiring of Simon Belsham as president of Jet.com is related to the company’s online grocery push. An advisor to the John Lewis Partnership, owners of UK retail giant John Lewis and Waitrose supermarkets, he was also online director for grocery and general merchandise seller Tesco.
Jet.com had been doing grocery delivery in New York, but not same-day orders. At least to start it will only handle Jet.com orders, not Walmart. Pricing and delivery windows are yet to be determined. Walmart plans to offer same-day grocery delivery to 100 U.S. cities by the end of the year, leaning on Postmates in some markets.
Boxed, Target and Amazon are all expanding same-day grocery delivery as well; the former has service in Dallas, Atlanta, Boston and many areas of New Jersey in addition to New York, while Target (leveraging acquired unit Shipt) and Amazon have much larger footprints.