Dive Brief:

• Albertsons and Uber announced last Tuesday that they have expanded their delivery partnership to nearly 800 more stores across the U.S.
• With the expansion, shoppers of Albertsons’ banners in Connecticut, Indiana, New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont and Rhode Island can find the grocer on Uber Eats for the first time.
• The grocery retailer is making digital and omnichannel investments to reflect shoppers' preferences, working with third-party providers as it develops its own digital operations. 

Dive Insight:

Like competitors Walmart and Kroger, Albertsons has made new investments to keep up with consumers' changing needs. The grocery company is keeping its options open with third-party providers as it works on its e-commerce strategy and also develops its owned digital operations.

In February, DoorDash announced it launched “express” 30-minute grocery delivery from more than 300 Albertsons stores, with more stores under the grocery company expected to start offering the service in the coming weeks before offering it with other grocery chains later this year. Albertsons is also linked up with Instacart.

With the expansion to more than 2,000 stores, Uber delivery is available at more than 87% of the grocery company’s fleet of roughly 2,270 retail stores. 

As Albertsons and Uber look to grow together, they are taking steps to link the grocer’s loyalty programs with the third-party e-commerce platform.

Albertsons and Uber first announced their tie-up last July, making the Idaho-based grocery company the latest partner for the third-party marketplace’s growing grocery business. Albertsons said at the time it was bringing delivery by Uber to more than 1,200 stores across its banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Tom Thumb and Randalls. 

In late November, Uber said it had expanded its partnership with Albertsons to six new U.S. markets, including Chicago, Baltimore; Reno, Nevada; Tucson, Arizona; and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In that announcement, Uber also noted that the availability of Albertsons stores to shoppers on its apps had tripled since the companies began working together.

During the company’s fourth quarter earnings call in April, Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran noted the company is investing in “digitally connecting and engaging all customers through our mobile app and website” as one of its strategic priorities. 

"We have learned to leverage our scale in vital capabilities such as pricing and promotions, merchandising and supply chain without compromising agility and local ownership," Sankaran said during the call. 

For Uber, the expansion with Albertsons marks the third-party delivery platform’s latest move beyond restaurants and ride-sharing. Uber launched into grocery in July 2020 and since then, has added big names to its partner roster, including Costco and Southeastern Grocers, along with smaller stores like Wagshal's and Dawson's Market. Last spring, Uber teamed up with Gopuff on a digital "everyday essentials" shop.

The Tuesday announcement also said that Uber has added more than 120,000 non-restaurant merchants — a 64% year-over-year jump — to its platform in the U.S. in the last year. The company is looking to take on on-demand delivery competitors, noting it aims to meet shopper desire for orders “within hours—if not minutes—rather than days.”