Grocery Delivery Services
Vocabulary
| depot | race (2) | race against time |
| deliver | pack (2) | see/saw/seen |
| fresh | staff (2) | get/got/got |
| rival | order (3) | pandemic |
| goods | supplier | customer |
| local | face (3) | model (3) |
| at least | target (2) | convenience store |
| price | similar | convenient |
| across | take root | operate (2) |
| trend | delivery | take/took/taken |
| root | analysis | challenge |
| supply | so-called | profitability |
| viable | scale (3) | think/thought/thought (2) |
| rapid | pick (3) | consolidation |
| retail | provider | opposition |
| vastly | stock (2) | enormously |
| arrival | mark (2) | demand (2) |
| likely | trade off | drive/drove/driven (2) |
| speed | replace | transformation |
| reduce | trade (2) | in order to |
| quick | product | around (2) |
| offer | selection | compared to |
| item | major (2) | shelf/shelves |
| slow | traditional |
Video: Grocery Delivery Services
Transcript
It’s a race against time. From this south London depot, pickers, packers and delivery staff have fifteen (15) minutes to get fresh food to the door of a nearby customer, who’s ordered via the Weezy app.
Weezy, like its London rivals Get Here, Dizha and Gorillaz stocks goods from major suppliers and local producers in so-called “dark stores” in town to supply customers at similar prices to convenience stores.
At least four new rapid services operate in central London alone. And the trend has take root in cities across Europe.
Natalie Berg, NBK Retail Analysis: “The big challenge they are facing is around profitability. And I think in order for this model to be viable, they need to scale. And there are a lot of horses in this race at the moment.
So I think when we look to the future, we’re certainly going to see some consolidation.
And these rapid delivery providers might be an opposition target for the big supermarkets.”
Of course, the pandemic has helped enormously. The arrival of these services marks a demand for convenience, and will drive the next transformation in food retail.
But they aren’t likely to replace the weekly food shop, because speed comes with a trade-off: in order to be so quick, these rapid delivery companies have to offer a vastly reduced product selection — one or two thousand items, compared to around fifty-thousand (50,000) on the shelves of a traditional supermarket.
But for shoppers with a need for speed, anything longer than fifteen minutes may seem too slow.
Questions
Street Food Stall, Street Food Vendor. Only bicyclists work at Weezy. True or false?
Market Stall. “It’s a race against time.” What does this mean?
Market, Marketplace. Does Weezy have a monopoly on grocery delivery services? Is Weezy the only grocery delivery service company in London? Do grocery delivery services operate only in London?
Kiosk, Newsstand. Weezy and other food delivery providers have their own farms and food processing plants. Is this right or wrong?
Convenience Store. “In order for this model to be viable, they need to scale.” What does the analyst mean? Will there be more and more small delivery providers?
Small Store, Small Shop. Who are Weezy’s competitors?
Bakery. Food delivery companies feel very distraught, anguished and devastated (very sad) by the coronavirus pandemic. Is this correct or incorrect?
Butcher’s. Will food delivery providers very quickly put supermarkets out of business? Will supermarket soon go bankrupt?
Grocery Store. What are the different ways people in your neighborhood or community shop for groceries and other items?
Mini-Market, Mini-Supermarket. Are delivery services popular in your town, district, city or country?
Supermarket. Have shopping patterns been changing? How have they been changing?
Department Store. How do you, your friends, colleagues and people in general prefer to shop?
Discount (Department) Store. My friends and I would like to work in a grocery delivery company. Yes or no?
Hypermarket. What might happen in the future?
Shopping Mall, Shopping Center. What should people and governments do?
