Jiffy is an online supermarket with an ultrafast delivery service based in London. Our mission is to make it faster and more convenient for customers to get the products they need when they need them. We offer a wide selection of fresh produce, meals, and household essentials sourced from popular brands and local suppliers at retail prices – all delivered in 15 minutes within 2 miles. To make it happen, we are building a network of smart fulfillment centres, known as dark stores or cloud stores.
Jiffy’s first stores are about to launch in London in March 2021, with further plans to expand across the UK.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
Customer experience with online grocery shopping is still frustrating for most people, with slots being unavailable for weeks in advance and some stores charging premium for the “rapid” delivery within 2 hours. We believe it should not be this way and that getting your groceries delivered should be as accessible and affordable as shopping at an offline grocery store, with the convenience of the ultrafast delivery service.
200 years ago, it was normal for a message in the form of a letter to be delivered within days or even weeks. Now we are used to getting our messages instantly. Same with the water in your house, you get it when you need it because water companies have built pipes right to your apartment. Yes it was a big investment and effort to build those water pipes across the city, but now everyone can enjoy it. We think that grocery is similar as it’s something we consume frequently and regularly, and we just need to build this new infrastructure and make it accessible for everyone.
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What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?
Don’t be afraid to take a risk and do something nobody has ever done. Act fast, and whatever happens, the experience has been worth the effort.
How has the company evolved during the pandemic?
Our company was born during the pandemic, as an idea and as a product. Safety and social distancing concerns have accelerated changes in customer needs and behaviour, creating a rising demand for rapid and contactless grocery delivery. Neither traditional supermarkets nor existing e-commerce businesses have been able to satisfy this demand fully.
2020 made it very clear that the demand for instant grocery delivery is pretty much unsatisfied in the UK. We saw a massive opportunity for our on-demand grocery delivery service in the UK, so we gathered an international team with extensive experience in online and offline retail, and built a product from scratch in just two months.
What can we hope to see from Jiffy in the future?
Our goal is to change the way people shop for groceries, to make ultrafast grocery delivery as normal and accessible as shopping at a convenience store at the moment.
There is a very high chance that some of the non-food product categories will also move into this ultrafast delivery format, which may become the next market standard. In fact, we are already seeing this in countries where instant delivery is a way more developed industry than it is today in the UK – in China, Turkey and Russia.
