Coop’s e-store customers have noted that the retail chain has imposed a minimum order limit on shopping baskets and has increased the price of home deliveries, even while delivery times have gotten longer. Competitors of the domestic retail chain will not follow Coop’s price increases.
Coop’s e-store customers were met with a notification that stated that the minimum order limit for home deliveries was now EUR 30 and it was EUR 15 when ordering to a “food box”. While the latter will be free delivery, home deliveries will cost somewhere between EUR 2.50 and EUR 4.50.
Coop communication manager Martin Miido said new prices were implemented from January 6. The variety in transport prices depends on the customer’s location, meaning how far the delivery address is from Coop’s central warehouse in Laagri. Transport fees will be included in any case, despite the shopping basket’s size.
“It is not a profitable service, which is why we need to establish service fees. When we entered the market, the goal was to introduce the service, but there continued to be people making so-called ice cream orders. The home delivery shopping basket did not have a minimum limit at first to introduce the service, but it needs no introduction any more, it is popular, but we cannot allow people to order in one ice cream. It is unreasonable in every sense,” Miido said.
Customers noticed, however, that delivery times had also taken a hit. When putting in an order in the morning, it is unlikely to arrive that same evening, even though that was the case earlier.
Miido said the spread of the coronavirus was to blame.
“Any time the coronavirus spread increases, the e-store delivery times get longer, because people put in more orders. We have seen it consistently over the last two years,” the Coop spokesperson said.
Maxima’s Barbora home delivery service also has a minimum order requirement of EUR 20. Barbora’s home delivery prices depend on the cost of the shopping basket, however.
“Orders worth more than EUR 49.90 have free delivery. A shopping basket at EUR 20 has a delivery price of EUR 1.99, which is the lowest on the e-store delivery market,” said Barbora CEO Kirke Pentikainen.
Delivery fees have not changed over the last year, Pentikainen added, noting that the company has also increased its delivery capacities.
“A delivery will be made on the same day or the next at the latest,” she said.
e-Selver’s delivery conditions have also not changed and there are no plans to do so in the near future, Selver’s communication director Rivo Veski confirms. The company has not established a minimum shopping basket requirement, but their transport fees are the highest among service providers.
“Estonia’s only nationwide home delivery e-store does not have a minimum purchase limit. You can order the cheapest product on our e-store and we will bring it to you. The general home delivery price is EUR 4.90, which is valid for all clients – from Narva to Kuressaare, Kopu to Vastseliina,” Veski said.
The e-Selver representative said the company promised to bring people their morning orders until the evening.
“In regions with less delivery days in a week, we will deliver the groceries in the morning following the delivery break,” he said.
Prisma’s home delivery service also does not have a minimum delivery requirement and deliveries depend on the customer’s location, averaging around EUR 3. When ordering to a parcel machine, the cost is EUR 3.50.
“Deliveries to the food package robot at the Prisma in Tiskre will be free in the first half of 2022,” Prisma e-store director Sven-Erik Veimer noted, adding that clients were also provided free delivery coupons from time to time.
The company is not planning on increasing prices anytime soon.
“We are rather looking for ways to offer even cheaper deliveries for our clients,” Veimer noted.
He said the company tried to deliver groceries on the same day if an order were made in the morning, but that was usually not possible in further regions, such as Parnu, Viljandi or Saaremaa. (ERR/Business World Magazine)