Two Melbourne startups are trying to crack the Australian online grocery delivery market

Two Melbourne startups have entered the fray in what’s starting to look like grocery wars as tech-driven smaller players try to grab an online slice of the $2 billion world ruled by Coles and Woolworths.

On-demand delivery service Swift has teamed up with online grocery GroceryButler.com.au to offer the promise of grocery delivery within the hour.

Swift is a logistics platform connecting retailers with on-demand couriers to deliver in under 60 minutes for the same price as next-day delivery.

Swift founder Joel Macdonald said he believed pure play e-commerce was dying and the key trend in online was deliveries faster and cheaper.

“The future of e-commerce will see bricks and mortar stores become the dispatch warehouses,” McDonald said.

“The GroceryButler partnership highlights that fast response to demand at an affordable price, which can only be achieved with retail store warehouse dispatching.”

The service is available in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with national ambitions to follow.

This latest collaboration comes as several players invest heavily in food delivery startup businesses, including Rocket Internet’s bet on HelloFresh and online retailer Ruslan Kogan, whose Kogan Pantry offers discounted home-delivered groceries.

Just 3% of Australia’s $2 billion grocery market is online home delivery.

News Source - http://www.businessinsider.com.au/two-melbourne-online-startups-are-trying-to-crack-the-australian-grocery-delivery-market-2015-3