Swedish companies to test “in-fridge delivery” of groceries

PostNord is working with Smart Home start-up Glue and ICA, Sweden’s largest grocery chain, to test a new system which will allow consumers to order groceries online and have them delivered directly to their home refrigerators (fridges). In a statement issued yesterday (20 April), PostNord explained how the service works: “With a Glue Smart Lock, the door to your home can be unlocked using a smart phone and you can hand out digital keys to family, friends or trusted companies.

“This way, the driver from the delivery company PostNord, who in advance has received the customer’s approval and digital key, can access their home and unpack the groceries from ICA.

“The customer does not have to adjust his or her schedule according to delivery times and the groceries are already unpacked when he or she gets home.”

Glue, ICA and PostNord launched the pilot in Sweden this week. They describe the pilot as the “first” in-fridge grocery delivery service  – and while there are certainly a lot of other systems and pilots schemes being developed to make food delivery quicker and easier, we believe that this claim may indeed be justified.

Anders Svensson, CEO of ICA Sverige, said that aim of the project was to “explore the future of grocery shopping online and push the development forward”.

Carl Johan Grandinson, CEO Glue, added: “Not only does this partnership take delivery services to the next level, it ‘unlocks’ the force of the on-demand economy and encourages people to think differently when it comes to opening up their homes for services that make everyday life easier.”