Bringg, a logistics software provider in the retail, grocery, restaurant, pharmacy and 3PL categories, has raised $25 million in a Series C funding round to increase its market reach, invest in its team and step up its R&D efforts. See what the company has been up to and how it is disrupting the same-day delivery logistics sector.
Instacart, the same-day grocery delivery company used by many grocers, is dealing with customer ire as freelance shoppers fulfilling the orders are passing up some jobs due to a change in the pricing structures. Also a number of shoppers have taken to Twitter to call for a boycott of the service due to a drop in their wages.
After beefing up its grocery delivery chops here, including automated kiosks and crowdsourcing, Walmart is now testing same-day grocery delivery to customers in China through a hookup with WeChat and delivery service Dada. This is separate from Walmart’s partnership with JD.com, although both have invested in Dada.
Grocery giant Kroger is adding voice ordering to its online arsenal, interestingly hitching its wagon to the Google Assistant voice app and not to Amazon’s Echo, at six of its associated brands, the company announced. See what else Kroger is up to as well as other tech skirmishes in the escalating online grocery wars.
Walmart is taking a page from Uber with its new Spark Delivery program, which uses crowdsourced drivers managed by the Bringg delivery logistics platform to get same-day grocery orders to customers.
After various acquisition offers didn’t work out, club-based grocery and CPG ecommerce startup Boxed has secured a $110 million funding round, validating the company’s technology and market position as the e-grocery space continues to heat up.
Cincinnati-based grocer Kroger will start selling online into China through a new partnership with Alibaba, testing some of its natural foods line first as it makes its first international move in the expanding grocery wars. See what else the company is up to, including its pilot of driverless delivery in Scottsdale, AZ and same-day delivery.
Never content to rest on last week’s disruption, Amazon is now offering online order pickup at select Whole Foods Market stores, including curbside delivery, all for Prime members in an effort to boost membership and gain more territory in the escalating grocery wars.
Kroger, demonstrating why it is a force to be reckoned with in e-grocery, is now offering same-day delivery in five markets, while also testing out self-driving delivery in a Phoenix pilot and creating automated distribution centers with partner Ocado.
Flexing its Whole Foods Market muscles, Amazon announced an expansion of same-day grocery delivery in New York and three cities in Florida, after Walmart’s Jet.com and FreshDirect both announced plans for fulfillment centers in the Bronx, NY.