Supermarket chain Waitrose launches first international online grocery platform in UAE

Grocery brand Waitrose & Partners has launched its first e-commerce platform outside of the UK, in the UAE.

The portal is home to a range of over 15,000 quality food and drinks items designed for customers who want to shop for their groceries online.

In addition to ‘the weekly shop’, the Waitrose & Partners UAE website is the go-to for seasonal recipes, cookery tips and meal inspiration. The ‘add to basket’ enables customers to shop recipes in a single click and cook up their favourite meals at home.

Customers can choose from a variety of local produce from the UAE, including fresh fruit and vegetables, organic salmon and free-range eggs. Shoppers can also opt for Waitrose & Partners’ own brands.

The service will offer over 2,800 delivery slots each week, with a choice of three delivery time slots per day, reaching more than 1,500 homes across Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Orders can be booked up to two hours before the delivery time, with a minimum order spend of Dhs100.

Orders below Dhs350 come with a flat delivery charge of Dhs15, while orders above it are delivered for free.

Sunil Kumar, CEO of Fine Fare Foods, which runs Waitrose & Partners UAE, said: “Our new website adds online capability, meaning we can reach even more customers in the UAE, while also supporting the local community during these uncertain times with an easy, safe way to shop. As the pace of online shopping continues to accelerate, listening to our customers’ demands and reflecting the service, quality and choice of our supermarkets has never been more crucial. We are committed to delivering the best quality food and drink sourced in the most responsible way right to our customers’ doorsteps”.

The brand’s new e-commerce platform comes at a time when Covid-19 has accelerated consumer adoption of online shopping. The pandemic has prompted 79 per cent of UAE-based consumers to transition from offline shopping to online purchasing, says a report by Ken Research. Online grocery delivery penetration in the total UAE grocery market to increase by 25 per cent, by end of 2025, according to the research group.

Waitrose & Partners has also recently introduced a 25 fils plastic bag charge across all its stores in the UAE as part of its sustainability programme.

Read: Supermarket chain Waitrose to charge for plastic bags as part of sustainability initiative