Uber Talks With European Supermarkets About Grocery Delivery

(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. said it’s in discussions with European supermarkets to roll out a grocery delivery service as rivals Deliveroo and Just Eat Plc move to compete with the likes of Amazon.com Inc. in the field.

The ride-hailing company has spoken with the U.K.’s second-biggest grocer, J Sainsbury Plc, according to people familiar with the situation. The supermarket operator this month announced it was partnering with Deliveroo to bring hot pizza to homes in four British cities.

“We’re currently speaking with a number of the major supermarkets around Europe,” an Uber spokesman said in an email.

The discussions come after Amazon led a $575 million investment in Deliveroo in May, which the delivery startup said would be used to expand its technology network to compete against rivals like Uber.

“We talk to many companies about potential partnerships that could help our customers access convenient and affordable products,” a Sainsbury spokesman said in an email.

A combination of Uber and a U.K. supermarket operator could put pressure on online grocer Ocado Group Plc, whose shares dipped after Bloomberg reported the talks before recovering to trade 2.3% higher in London. Uber gained 1.5%, with Sainsbury down 0.6%.

Ocado, which also provides its logistics technology to supermarkets, in February partnered with Marks & Spencer Group Plc to deliver groceries. U.K. antitrust regulators this month began an initial review of Amazon’s Deliveroo investment.

Uber has yet to follow its rivals in partnering with a retailer to deliver supermarket purchases. Just Eat said earlier this month that it was expanding its partnership with Walmart Inc.-owned Asda to deliver groceries to U.K. customers within half an hour.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ellen Milligan in London at emilligan11@bloomberg.net;Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, John Lauerman

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