Dive Brief:

• With recent integrations with Uber Eats, Grubhub and Instacart, convenience store chain 7-Eleven now offers delivery through seven different third-party services, covering 90% of its service area, the company noted in a press release.
• The chain also offers delivery through Postmates, DoorDash, Google and H-E-B-owned Favor, which only operates in Texas, along with its 7Now app in select markets. 
• 7-Eleven's expansion adds to a fast-growing network of online convenience options focused on small-basket shopping. DashMart, DoorDash's online convenience store, is reportedly expanding its operations to Florida, while Goody, a new snack delivery service, just launched in Los Angeles. 

Dive Insight:

7-Eleven has long been known for letting people quickly drop in to buy snacks, certain groceries, household essentials and other items at thousands of stores that never close, but the company has only recently decided to let people make purchases without needing to visit one of the company’s locations.

The retailer first stepped into the delivery space in 2017 with a test at 10 stores in the Dallas area, its home market, and has since accelerated its efforts to let people buy products online. In September, Instacart said it was working with the the chain to provide delivery of certain items, like milk, bread and eggs, to customers in a handful of markets and planned to bring the service to more than 7,000 7-Eleven stores.

7-Eleven’s efforts to migrate online reflects the rapid rise of small-basket, high-frequency e-commerce that threaten to further cut in on grocers' sales. The company said the number of delivery orders it receives each day has increased by a factor of four in 2020.

That demand has, in turn, spawned competitors looking to grab market share from traditional convenience stores chains as well as grocers. Earlier in October, Goody, which touts 30-minute delivery of snacks, ice cream and certain household goods using its own warehouses and fleet of drivers, launched in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, DashMart, a delivery service run by DoorDash, has filed plans to build a warehouse to serve customers in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported. DashMart launched in early August in eight cities, including Chicago, Dallas and Phoenix.

7-Eleven’s growing presence in the retail delivery market coincides with its efforts to introduce alternative payment options at its stores. The company recently began a pilot program to let customers at locations in Florida, Texas and Virginia buy gas contactlessly using a mobile phone. Earlier this year, 7-Eleven opened a cashierless store at its Dallas headquarters.