Belgian postal operator bpost has extended home deliveries of groceries to inhabitants living in and around Antwerp who can now shop on its platform www.combo.be and get the selected products delivered to their homes for a delivery fee.
At the end of 2014, bpost launched the grocery delivery service in the Brussels-Capital Region, Halle-Vilvoorde, one of the two administrative departments in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, and Walloon Brabant in southern Belgium.
With immediate effect, inhabitants of the Antwerp region can order food, including fresh and frozen products, via bpost’s platform from participating shops and can choose when bpost delivers them. They can place an order with the various grocery retailers featured on the website and get their purchases delivered to their homes in one go. The Antwerp retailers include Carrefour, Capoue, Graceland, Coolfood, Het Viskraam, La Boucherie, Slagerij Goeminne and Wink, with others to be added at a later stage.
During the ordering process on www.combo.be, the shoppers select the date of delivery by bpost, which consolidates all orders into a single delivery. Deliveries are made on weekdays between 6-9pm, with the recipients being notified of a more exact delivery time slot via SMS on the day of delivery.
The price is €9.95 for a combined delivery with a maximum of 15 boxes or 150 kg. Customers can pay by card at the time of delivery or online at the website of the participating merchants. Next-evening delivery is possible for all orders placed by midnight. For some businesses, purchases made before noon can even be delivered the same day.
The grocery delivery service was launched after a successful trial of the pilot project “bpost by appointment” which bpost had been testing since 2012. This included customers in the two pilot areas (Sint-Niklaas and the eastern part of Walloon Brabant) making an appointment to have their orders with local merchants, department stores or online retailers delivered to their homes. The pilot project proved that bpost was able to provide such service and had the knowhow, people and logistical structures to offer the service on a commercial basis and on a larger scale.
