Group buying of food meets demand in locked-down areas
Online grocery stores are offering group buying options to cater for the fresh food shopping demands of communities in locked-down areas.
Consultant Helen Hu in Hongkou District said the community she lives in has put in a request for Freshippo's group buying deliveries and is still waiting for the grocery's staff to work on the arrangements.
Next-day delivery is available at four Pudong stores and eight Puxi stores as there's currently no individual purchase options in the city.
Freshippo is offering four types of combo packages ranging from staple food, drinks, vegetables and snacks with prices between 109 yuan (US$15) to 299 yuan. Their availability varies in different regions.
For those who order before noon, delivery would arrive at 5 pm the next day, and those who order in the afternoon have to wait for merchandise to arrive on the third day.
Freshippo's neighborhood stores now cover 160 communities in Baoshan District and 150 ones in Pudong.
According to Freshioppo, the bulk purchasing model could be four times more efficient than the one-on-one delivery.
Bright Dairy is providing eight types of fresh milk and yogurt for bulk purchasing. The deliveries will arrive on the third day after ordering with a minimum purchase amount of more than 3,000 yuan (US$470) for each compound.
Meituan is providing next-day delivery of seven types of takeaway set meals in Xuhui, Putou and Jing'an districts, costing 25 yuan each. It requires a minimum of 30 sets in one neighborhood compound.
Packs are on their way.
Fresh vegetables and meat.
Dingdong Maicai's group purchasing service has offered more than one million vegetable packs for nearly 100,000 households in the city since it went into operation last week.
Dada Group's JD Daojia delivery platform and grocery vendors have also offered group buying options for 100 or more orders in each community.
