Woolworths has announced it has acquired delivery service Milkrun in Australia. Milkrun launched with the promise of delivering grocery items like roast chicken, sushi, flowers, floss, toothpaste, or ice cube trays in about 10 minutes for a $5 fee.
However, the start-up collapsed in April and all its staff were terminated.
Woolworths has now picked over the bones of the business in a deal that’s said to be worth around $10 million.
Rather than operate Milkrun the way it did before its collapse, from a network of what were known as “dark stores”, Woolworths has plans to simply rebadge its existing Metro60 faster delivery service.
As the former Milkrun promised delivery times of 20 minutes or less, the newly flagged Woolies proposition will use third-party couriers and claims of an average delivery time of 33 minutes.
It will be available from stores in more than 500 suburbs across Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and the Gold Coast.
The deal provides Woolworths with access to Milkrun’s name, its social media accounts and all its existing customer relationships.
In a statement, Wooloworths’ CEO Brad Banducci said: “We’ve long admired Milkrun’s innovative brand, dedication to customers and ambition to shake up the grocery delivery model,” Mr Banducci said.
“We are thrilled that the Milkrun story will continue to live on and thrive with Metro60 relaunching as Milkrun, now powered by Metro.
“Orders will be fulfilled from our network of Metro stores which will give customers the choice of over 10,000 product lines including hot roast chickens, fresh sushi and much more.”
