The battle of London's grocery apps

A study in differentiation

My girlfriend thinks I have a problem. And she’s probably right.

I’ve become obsessed with an app called Getir. Not because it’s some kind of life-changing product and I can’t stop using it. But because wherever I go in London, I am followed by ads for it. We’re talking a lot of ads. On buses, black cabs, bus stops and billboards, plus every social media app I use.

But here’s the thing. After a week or two of being bombarded with Getir ads in Peckham (where I live), I finally succumbed to downloading the app… and was hit with an error message. The app wasn’t available in Peckham. 🤯

A fews weeks later, I tried again and found I could now actually buy some products - but they were all a bit random. The sort of selection you’d find at a post-looting corner shop. So I ordered my box of falafel, gluten-free ginger biscuits, and 12-pack of AA batteries, and thought no more of it. 

But that’s when the floodgates opened. Suddenly, I was being hit with targeted ads on Instagram and Twitter for about five other grocery apps. What’s more, Getir was no longer the only grocery app aggressively running out-of-home ads. Now, we’ve got Weezy, Zapp and Gorillas all over our buses and cabs.

Once I started going down the rabbit hole, I realised there were even more apps available - Dija, Jiffy, Fancy, Chubster. Ok I made that last one up. 

So what?

What’s clear is that despite the current shortcomings of these products, there is still a huge amount of investment happening in the ‘last-mile delivery’ space (which is apparently what we’re calling this industry…) Especially if you can afford to advertise in places your app isn’t actually available in yet.

Investors are confident that there’s enough of a market for many, many players - and now is the time to act. It’s the Wild West, landgrab phase, with most of these apps going big on advertising to capture a slice of the emerging customer base, even if it means promoting a half-baked product. 

And, for now, it all makes a ton of sense for there to be numerous options in the mix. Every one of these companies stands to benefit from the collective noise being produced, as right now it’s all about us consumers being educated to the fact that we can now get our groceries from an app within 10 minutes. Together, they’re creating a product category - a rising tide lifts all boats, and all that.

Differentiation

Eventually, though, the promo codes offering £10 off your first purchase will run out and consumers will need to pick their preferred app. None of us really have the brain space for using multiple apps that do the same thing - other than when booking or product availability forces us to - so at some point, Getir, Gorillas and co will need a clearer reason for why somebody should choose them over the competition.

Which leads me to why I found myself writing this post.

All of these products are currently going out with the same core message. A quick scan of their websites and things start feeling very familiar... 

They’re all pretty much saying the same thing. As far as I can see, I have no reason to choose one of these products over the other.

But how does a company stand out when there’s only so much you can change from a logistics and product perspective? Once you’re into ‘minutes’, being any faster loses its impact, and having a slicker app UI is tricky to message on a billboard, so these companies will need to get creative when it comes to differentiation.

How to stand out

So I’ve tried to come up with some ideas for what I’d do if I was a product marketer attempting to differentiate my grocery app product, without unlimited access to a team of developers. These should hopefully be applicable to most industries though, so may give some inspiration to you and your team.

Exclusives

What if you could only get your favourite products on one of these apps? Consumers have extremely loyal relationships with their favourite brands, especially ethical ones that stand for something - think Oatly or Tony's Chocolonely. And if you could only find them on one particular grocery app, you’d probably start using that one a lot more.

Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat already do it for London’s takeaway customers, which explains why you can’t buy a Big Mac on Deliveroo (I have no idea why I know that…)

And Apple Music took this strategy when it first launched, regularly securing exclusives from top artists and acquiring their fanbases in the process. Ultimately this approach was phased out when the labels realised it was harming the streaming industry as a whole, but there’s no denying the approach helped Apple make significant headway in a short amount of time.

So perhaps one of the grocery apps will cut deals with a handful of killer brands, and we’ll all be forced to go there for our must-have snacks?

The eco angle

This big, incremental increase in the number of motorbikes on the streets is eventually going to become a talking point for Londoners.

The last thing big cities need is more motor vehicles on the road. Aside from overall congestion, and the pain of having (often) learner bikers on the road, this increase is going to have an impact on the environment - not helping with London’s goal of being a zero carbon city by 2030 - and put people off engaging with delivery apps altogether.

Maybe one of the grocery apps could go all-in on bicycles or electric vehicles - and make a real thing of it - and own the ‘green groceries’ space.

The ethical angle

Similarly, consumers are increasingly spending money with the companies whose values they associate the most with - brands that make you feel a part of something.

There are many ways you could approach this from a grocery app point of view, be it offering exclusively ethically-sourced products, locally-source products, or specialising in vegan-friendly groceries. Alternatively, apps could partner with charities to tackle food poverty, or embark on initiatives that support the farming and agriculture industries.

Get a personality

Never underestimate the power of Tone of Voice. Quality messaging and a tone of voice that stands out in a crowd is probably the most cost-effective route to differentiation.

It could be cheeky, witty, audacious or heart-felt, but having a clearly defined personality and injecting that into the way you interact with your consumers can set your product apart from the rest.

Think about the way you write copy in everything you do, from the words used in your sign-up flows to how you engage with followers on social media. People notice this stuff, enough for it to be a Reason to Buy on its own. Just think of the success (and influence) of Innocent Drinks, or Monzo, and how they’ve stood out in their categories.

I feel like Weezy might be moving towards this approach, so let’s see how they develop their brand over the next few months. 👀

Customer support

The more I think about this one, the more it feels like a no-brainer. And one that could be a game changer in a number of industries.

I would happily change my internet, TV, phone or insurance provider in a heartbeat if I thought I was going to get decent customer support. It doesn’t even need to be amazing - just getting hold of someone would be a start.

So, if one of London’s grocery apps invests in quality customer care - and markets this effectively - it could genuinely be a winning edge. When it comes to differentiation, a lot of companies could be ‘productifying’ their Support teams - and even charging extra for access to higher quality service.

---

Ok, so those are a few of the ideas I’d be considering if I were a grocery app trying to stand out in a noisy space. But I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments section for what you’d do. 👇👇👇

Next week, we’ll get back to building out your product marketing framework. See you then.

Cheers! 👋

Rory