La Comprita launches express service through UBER Eats
La Comprita and UBER Eats announced the launch of a new service that will allow local consumers to order some 500 grocery products for same-day delivery starting this week. The new delivery service’s fee will be waived for the first two weeks, company officials said.
The new service, La Comprita Express, is set to deliver grocery products using Uber vehicles for transport and La Comprita’s dispatch logistics setup.
“We’re extremely pleased with this new offer of La Comprita Express at UBER Eats,” said Mateo Abreu, groceries and convenience manager for UBER Eats in Puerto Rico. “We recognize La Comprita’s offering as ‘best in class’ and believe that it will significantly strengthen our platform by having them there.”
“With our entry into UBER Eats we have the opportunity to efficiently serve a smaller order market sector with very fast delivery,” said Juan R. Colón, chief executive of La Comprita.
The new service is targeted at consumers who need a few grocery items for use the same day, but don’t want to go out and pick them up themselves.
Colón explained that the challenge the company has faced is how to effectively serve customers who wish to place small orders for grocery items. The new alliance allows the company to segment the market, delivering smaller orders at a lower cost using Uber’s infrastructure, while continuing to serve its current multiple item order customers directly through its own service
“Uber provides us with an important logistics add-on as we continue to serve our clientele with an excellent dispatch process where the customer will have the confidence to receive the best possible order,” said Colón.
The pandemic has up-ended retail as lockdowns have propelled online orders of grocery products, and Puerto Rico has been no exception. Last year, a survey commissioned by the Chamber of Marketing, Industry and Food Distribution (MIDA, in Spanish) through international market research firm Nielsen, showed that La Comprita enjoyed the highest satisfaction rate in Puerto Rico among customers to the food and supply dispatch service provider group, with 94%.
Colón explained that Uber approached them with the idea of joining forces last year, but the technical implementation of the service integration has taken longer than initially expected.
“People don’t understand the costs associated with last-mile delivery of grocery products,” said Colón, while singling out costs associated with making sure refrigerated products arrive at their destination in perfect condition.
La Comprita, which bills itself as an online supermarket, has been operation since 2017. According to Colón, it was the only such service that continued to serve the public throughout the passage of Hurricane Maria.
The company currently supplies orders from Supermercados Pueblo and Costco warehouses through its website lacompritapr.com and conducts deliveries in San Juan, Guaynabo, Dorado and select areas of Bayamón, Carolina and Trujillo Alto.
Its new UBER Eats store, La Comprita Express, is an addition to the direct services it already provides successfully.