European retailer Colruyt Group said it is expanding its online product range with Foodbag meal boxes as part of a new bundled pick-up service aimed at families who have kids returning to school.
With September traditionally a hectic month as children return to school and parents resume work after the summer, Colruyt is aiming to take advantage of an increased tendency among adults to order their weekly groceries online at this time of year.
Making the announcement, the company said the boxes have already been made available at 100 Collect&Go collection points in Belgium where customers can pick them up together with their groceries at a time of their choice.
“Not only do more customers use Collect&Go, the number of orders also increases every year in this period. From August to September, we see the number of online orders increase by about 15%,” Tom De Prater, Collect&Go manager said.
Combining two services in the same place
The initiative represents the first time Collect&Go, Colruyt’s online shopping service and Smartmat NV have collaborated since Colruyt announced a stake in the company in February 2022. It also means Smartmat NV, which specialises in the composition of meal boxes under the Foodbag brand will have a new distribution channel, complementary to home deliveries.
“Stéphane Ronse, CEO at Smartmat NV added: “This partnership with Collect&Go not only provides us with an additional channel to offer meal boxes to customers and respond to customer preferences. The joint delivery of our meal boxes in one and the same place is also more sustainable.”
Collect&Go opened collection points in the centre of Brussels earlier this year. It said it is continuing to expand its home delivery service so customers can choose to pick up their groceries at a collection point nearby or have them delivered to their home.
Orders placed during the holiday months are said to give way to more routine, healthy and school-oriented purchases at the end of the summer. This can include orders for healthy snacks, or fruit and vegetables which have become increasingly popular in recent years
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Image source: Colruyt Group
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