Loblaw to launch DoorDash-powered fast delivery service

Loblaw Cos. is teaming with DoorDash on a new delivery service that brings grocery and convenience orders to customers’ doors in an expected time of 30 minutes or less.

Called PC Express Rapid Delivery, the new Loblaw service will kick off DoorDash’s Rapid Delivery program from purpose-built fulfillment centers, supplied by the Canadian food and drug retailer and owned and operated by DoorDash. San Francisco-based DoorDash said Wednesday that PC Express Rapid Delivery — incorporating Loblaw's "PC Express" e-grocery brand — is slated to launch in August and roll out to major Canadian markets, including Vancouver, British Columbia; the greater Toronto area; Calgary, Alberta; and Kitchener, Ontario.

Loblaw customers access the new service on the DoorDash Marketplace app by selecting “PC Express” Rapid Delivery or by going online to PCExpress.ca. DoorDash noted that 85% of the Canada’s population will have access to the service.

“Customers have come to expect the very best online grocery shopping experience from us, whether they choose curbside pickup or delivery to their door,” Lauren Steinberg, senior vice president of Loblaw Digital at Mississauga, Ontario-based Loblaw, said in a statement. “Collaborating with DoorDash on rapid delivery services enables us to enhance our already existing PC Express offering by adding 30-minutes-or-less delivery to meet customers' growing interest in on-demand delivery options.”

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DoorDash said that as order volume increases, it expects “to improve picking-plus- packing and batch orders, improving margins and cost per delivery.”

Same-day delivery for grocery and convenience items from all Loblaw Cos. banner stores on PCExpress.ca site also will be powered through DoorDash Drive, a fulfillment platform that enables direct delivery to customers for any business. And starting in July, customers will be able to order on the DoorDash Marketplace app from Loblaw Cos. retail stores, including Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, Atlantic Superstore, Provigo, Maxi, Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix.

Rapid Retail Canada Inc., a DoorDash subsidiary, will be the retailer operating under the PC Express Rapid Delivery brand.

“Our goal is to bring convenience to customers in Canada, with the selection and speed they want,” according to Shilpa Arora, general manager of DoorDash Canada, based in Vancouver. “Through this collaboration with Loblaw, we are addressing consumers’ need to ‘get it now,’ in addition to our existing Marketplace and Drive channels and furthering the value we bring to consumers and partners alike.”

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DoorDash added that Loblaw holds a more than 30% share each in Canada’s food and drug retail channels. Overall, Loblaw’s retail network encompasses 2,438 stores, including 545 corporate-owned supermarkets under more than a dozen banners, 551 franchised grocery stores and 1,342 Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix associate-owned drugstores.