Nicholas Carroll
Nicholas Carroll, Category Director - Retail Insights, has a particular flare for the grocery industry but analyses and writes in-depth reports on a range of UK and European retail markets.
November 25th, 2021

Rapid grocery delivery company Getir has moved to acquire its UK rival Weezy. The deal means Getir’s 2,500 strong workforce will join forces with Weezy’s 700 employees. Getir is also intending to continue to use Weezy’s four fulfilment centres. In this blog, we explore the consolidation of these operators both in the UK and elsewhere, the arrival of new operators and if there’s sufficient demand to support all of these companies. 

Source: Mintel

As we highlighted back in March for Mintel’s Online Grocery Retailing – UK, 2021 Report, while the pandemic has helped to boost the rapid growth in ultrafast grocery operations, with 20% of online grocery shoppers having their groceries delivered by courier, the arrival of so many new businesses into this more niche space would no doubt lead to consolidation.

This has since proved the case! US operator Gopuff acquired Fancy and Dija, rolling the brands into a single brand name, while on the Continent we have seen similar inter-sector consolidation or big names buying into this rapidly expanding sector, such as Carrefour’s investment into Cajoo in France. So here, we have another example of a larger player taking over the competition, although it differs a little to the Gopuff deals in that the initial sounds made by both sides make it clear both brands will continue on. 

Back in the UK, what was the thinking behind the latest consolidation?

Both do serve slightly different audiences, with Weezy focusing on a more premium and bigger-basket shop, and Getir on traditional convenience shopping. If resources can be pooled, there is no reason that the brands cannot co-exist, as long as, and it is a big if, the volumes are there to serve both audiences.

At the same time as this deal, more and more rapid delivery services have been launched. Deliveroo has introduced Hop, its dedicated grocery arm, while a host of new players have continued to pop-up, such as Russian operator Yango Deli, which has recently made its way to London. 

Source: Yango Deli

Yango Deli, operated by Russian tech giant Yandex, has opened four London “dark stores” to deliver their products from

Whether there are the volumes to support all of these brands or whether we will see more consolidation, which we believe is more than likely, will be a key issue. This will be explored in more detail in the Mintel Online Grocery Retailing – 2022 report – to be published early next year.