DALLAS & SAN FRANCISCO -- 7-Eleven Inc. has partnered with San Francisco-based urban delivery service Postmates to deliver groceries, fresh foods and other items from the convenience-store retailer. Delivery from 7-Eleven began July 1 in San Francisco and Oakland.
The service will deliver an assortment of 7-Eleven's products from hot foods and snacks to cold beverages and other convenience items to customers in an hour or less.
"7-Eleven's founder, Joe C. Thompson Jr., used to say 7-Eleven's mission was to 'give customers what they want, when and where they want it'," said Raja Doddala, 7-Eleven's vice president of innovation and omnichannel strategy. "Through the modern-day technology that Postmates provides, we can fulfill that promise in a way we haven't done before."
This is 7-Eleven's first official foray into delivery and fulfills a component of the company's omnichannel strategy to provide time-pressed customers solutions to their everyday needs while transforming its outlets from convenience to convenient, neighborhood stores.
"Through our partnership with Postmates, 7-Eleven's reach extends beyond our physical stores," Doddala said. "The program should work well for us because it appeals to our customers who are more on-the-go, connected 24/7 and prefer fast-paced, urban living.
"Plus, we have market concentration in these geographic areas, which makes shopping with us through Postmates even more convenient for the customer," Doddala added.
"By partnering with 7-Eleven, we will be able to provide both 7-Eleven and Postmates customers access to groceries, fresh food and other goods across all markets that our companies are both operating in." said Holger Luedorf, Postmates senior vice president. "In providing 7-Eleven with a digital storefront and giving its team access to our fleet of more than 12,000 Postmates, we are making the experience even more convenient for our joint customers."
Doddala expects to expand delivery later this year to other areas where there is a high density of 7-Eleven stores--Austin, Texas, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
Postmates is giving 7-Eleven a digital storefront, and customers will be able to shop for items from the updated inventory within the Postmates app. It enables customers to order their favorite 7-Eleven goods--including sandwiches, pizza, wings and other products such as over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, batteries and household essentials 24/7.
Because of 7-Eleven’s market concentration in the Bay Area, Postmates is kicking off this partnership with the convenience-store chain in San Francisco and Oakland.
To order from 7-Eleven, customers can open the Postmates website or app for iOS or Android and search for the nearest 7-Eleven store.
Postmates said it is transforming the way local goods move around a city by enabling anyone to get any product delivered in under one hour. Postmates' urban logistics and on-demand delivery platform connects customers with local couriers, who purchase and deliver goods from any restaurant or store in a city.
Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. operates, franchises or licenses nearly 10,500 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America. Globally, there are more than 56,000 7-Eleven c-stores in 16 countries. During 2013, 7-Eleven c-stores generated total worldwide sales close to $84.5 billion.
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