There’s no shortage of instant grocery-delivery services waiting to bring goods to your door – the sector boomed during the pandemic. But what if you need something a little more exclusive? Say, beauty products, Apple electronics, or yoga equipment?
Start-up Arive4 is currently trialling a service across several cities in Germany that promises to deliver such items to customers in as little as 30 minutes. It has partnered with premium brands and stores for the venture, including Lululemon, Bose and Aesop.
Though the company is focusing on higher-value, slower-moving consumer goods than the grocery-delivery start-ups, it is still looking to them as the model to follow – namely offering customers access to goods via a few clicks of their smartphones. “The U.K., France, they are all interesting. Having those grocery companies there is an advantage for us because it’s evidence of the consumer shift that has taken place,” explains co-founder Maximilian Reeker5. “They are already used to getting their food quickly, which is the first step. [Yet], it’s not just about being the next quick commerce vertical but building the next generation of e-commerce.”
Following a recent round of fundraising, Arive is looking at potential markets to expand to next, as well as considering selling its backend technology to third-party retailers.