7-Eleven Jumps on the Delivery Bandwagon

Convenience giant is latest to pair with Postmates app for delivery service in select cities.

July 02, 2015

DALLAS – 7-Eleven announced this week that they have agreed to partner with delivery service Postmates to have sodas, snacks and household staples – yes, and Slurpees – delivered to customers in a handful of cities.

According to a report in Fortune magazine, the deal is an effort by 7-Eleven to better capitalize on the rise of delivery services, an emerging niche of companies that serve as personal shoppers for customers who prefer to avoid visiting a store. Postmates is leading the charge, with recent partnerships with retailers and food chains including McDonalds, Starbucks and Chipotle.

Holger Luedorf, Postmates head of business development, told Fortune that strong demand for deliveries from convenience stores and pharmacies has encouraged the company to push for more partnerships in that channel.

The deal with 7-Eleven also marks the first official delivery partnership for the convenience store chain. Raja Doddala, vice president of omnichannel & ventures for the company, explained that delivery services like Postmates were already shopping at its stores on behalf of their customers, particularly for its chain’s trademark Slurpees as well as items like medicine. Most of 7-Eleven’s household products — prepared food and medicines but not alcohol — will be available within the Postmates app at regular store prices.

Doddala told Fortune that the retailer’s agreement is not exclusive to Postmates and that 7-Eleven is exploring other deals with on-demand companies. “We’ve never experimented with delivery before, but people are requesting it, and we are going to explore more ways to work with on-demand companies,” he said.

The partnership has already launched in tech-happy San Francisco and Oakland, California, and plans to expand to Austin, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. in the coming months.

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