Grocery shopping is stressful and takes time. But that doesn’t have to be the case, because delivery services such as Flink or Gorillas sometimes bring the goods directly to the front door within ten minutes of the order being placed. And that even with comparatively low delivery costs. However, not all services are convincing and there are quite a few traps that ultimately make shopping more expensive than the local branch.
Shopping from online mail order companies is extremely popular in Germany, although the corona pandemic has accelerated this trend again. At least when it comes to groceries, many customers still prefer to visit the branches of Edeka, Rewe, Lidl, Kaufland & Co. With Flink and Gorillas, however, in addition to Amazon Fresh, delivery services are increasingly penetrating the market in Germany, often hiding well-known food retailers. But where is quality and value for money? But above all: Who delivers particularly quickly? TECHBOOK has looked at the most important delivery services.
Nimble
Flink is one of the largest and best-known food delivery services and is a partner of Rewe. The Berliners promise that orders on workdays between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. will arrive at the front door within ten minutes. The offer is mainly available in large cities such as Berlin, Düsseldorf and Cologne or in the Ruhr area. The list also includes places like Remscheid, Moers or Passau. The standard delivery costs are 1.80 euros, which seems comparatively cheap. However, these may vary for larger deliveries.
Cash payment upon delivery is not possible, the invoice must be settled in the app. Various payment methods are available here. Especially when it comes to fresh products such as fruit and vegetables, Flink offers a fairly large selection on a par with Rewe stores. However, attractive special offers, such as those found locally, are often missing. In general, we had the impression that fresh produce in particular is more expensive at Flink than in stores. All in all, there are mainly branded products in the range, which also explains the higher prices.
gorillas
Gorillas is also one of the better-known delivery services, which are growing rapidly in Germany. Like Flink, it is promised that the goods will reach the customer within ten minutes, but the delivery area is significantly smaller than that of the competitor. In addition to Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig, the list mainly includes major West German cities. These include, for example, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, but also Münster. Advantage with gorillas: There is no minimum order value and you also get delivery costs from 1.80 euros. In addition to fresh produce, the Berliners particularly focus on fitness products and vegan nutrition. The focus is on the app; in contrast to Flink, for example, there is no direct product overview on the homepage.
How sustainable food delivery services are, you can read on myHOMEBOOK.
Amazon Fresh
The food delivery service of the industry leader Amazon is the top dog among the offers mentioned, but there are various limitations compared to Flink and Gorillas. Amazon requires an Amazon Prime membership to use the service. Also, the maximum number of products per order is limited to 75 items. In addition to the Prime fee, there are also delivery costs of EUR 3.99, which are not applicable for orders of EUR 80 or more (two-hour delivery window). The minimum order value is 20 euros. In terms of price, Amazon Fresh is in many cases higher than the prices in the local market for fresh goods such as fruit, vegetables and meat. We found the offer only moderately attractive in terms of price and selection, especially since the overall availability left a lot to be desired. Here the competitors are already significantly further. Advantage over Flink and Gorillas: Amazon Fresh has a larger delivery area in many cities.
bring master
The delivery service Bringmeister is a partner of Edeka in Germany. Among all the offers mentioned, it is characterized above all by the particularly low delivery fee of 0.99 euros. The minimum order value is 40 euros, deliveries are made at selectable hourly intervals. However, the service is only available in a few selected cities such as Berlin, Potsdam, Munich and Augsburg. This puts it well behind the market leaders Flink and Gorillas in terms of both availability and delivery speed.
When it comes to fresh produce, Bringmeister is often cheaper than the competition, because the range includes not only well-known branded products but also the EDEKA private label. So if you live in the catchment area of Bringmeister and don’t necessarily need the goods in ten minutes, but can be patient for an hour, the price-performance ratio here is sometimes particularly good. Another advantage: Payment by invoice and direct debit is possible.
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TECHBOOK means
Grocery delivery services are sometimes cheaper than driving to the supermarket yourself. In individual cases, you save time and money on petrol costs or the local transport ticket. Deliveries within ten minutes are also practically unbeatable. But it is also a fact that services such as Flink and Gorillas still only deliver cheaply and quickly in large cities. Especially in rural areas, they are still not an alternative to shopping in a branch. The Amazon Fresh offer is disappointing. Although it started early, the industry leader in mail order is well behind its competitors.