London’s online grocery service Zapp zooms to Manchester, aims to cater ‘need it now’ occasions

The pandemic has led e-commerce to alter customer shopping behaviours and transformed the global retail landscape from brick and mortar to omnichannel. 

The UK is considered to have one of the world’s most developed internet grocery industries. Companies are springing up all over the UK, promising to deliver whatever you want in as little as 10 minutes. 

The latest one to hit the headlines is Zapp, a London-based startup backed by Atomico that delivers everyday items to customers’ doorsteps within 20 minutes, 24/7. 

Recently, the online delivery company that’s battling it out in London has now launched its services in Manchester, as the company continues to expand outside of London. Already Getir, Gorillas and Weezy are operating in Central Manchester.  

Founded by Joe Falter and Navid Hadzaad in 2020, Zapp operates dozens of ‘Zappstores’, with each store stocking 1,000s of products ready to be picked, packed, and delivered. 

Unlike other startups, the online grocery service caters to the ‘need it now’ occasions, such as entertaining last-minute, an impromptu BBQ, and others. 

“Zapp is for when life can’t wait,” says Steve O’Hear, Zapp’s Vice President of Strategy. “Our sweet spot is spontaneity and urgent-need”.

It’s worth mentioning that Joe Falter is a part of the founding team at Jumia where he led the on-demand services business through to the group’s IPO.

On the other hand, Navid Hadzaad was a product leader at Amazon’s Seattle HQ, after founding GoButler and scaling several ventures at Rocket Internet. 

The leadership team also spans former employees of Deliveroo, Just Eat, Domino’s, and Tesco.

A few days back, the company hired Bank of America Corp, managing director Ngoc Chu as CFO, to help the company navigate an increasingly crowded and competitive industry.

Chu worked as an investment banker for 15 years, most recently at Bank of America in London advising on media and internet deals including Auto Trader Group Plc’s public stock offering. She previously worked at HSBC Holdings Plc.

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