Food delivery firms are continuing to push beyond their core market of take-away meals as they look to further leverage their delivery infrastructures through tie-ups with retailers and brand owners.

The likes of Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats have over recent years each partnered with a number of the UK’s major supermarket chains to deliver groceries to shoppers and this has been extended further by Just Eat, which recently undertook a trial selling Lego products on its platform from five Asda superstores. Shoppers could choose from a wide range of the leading toy maker’s goods.

Speaking at the recent The Retail Conference from The Retail Bulletin in London, Ellie Starr, head of strategic partnerships at Just Eat, suggested the move represents the ongoing broadening out of the Just Eat offer beyond take-away food to encompass other categories including non-food.

“We’re known for food delivery but we we’re a marketplace and we’re now looking to move into retail with the recent launch of Lego. Hopefully there will be some [other] new verticals added by the end of the year. Over time our strategy has changed. You’ve got to evolve, you can’t do the same thing,” she explains.

The desire to purchase a wider range of goods, including non-food items, for immediate delivery sits very well with the Gen Z audience of Just Eat, according to Starr, who says the original mission of shoppers was to use the company’s app because they were hungry but it has been natural for this to be extended out.

She cites US-based food delivery firm DoorDash as an example of food delivery companies moving into other areas such as pet products and flowers. Although she acknowledges Lego is not an immediately obvious extension Starr says it simply came out of the existing Asda relationship. “Gen Z’s want everything in 30 minutes and we’re trying to understand what works. You’ll see a lot more from us in the coming months,” she suggests.

The move by Just Eat comes at a time when Tesco has broadened out the range of non-food goods it delivers as part of its home delivery service with the announcement that it is adding hundreds of health & beauty products to its website. The initial range includes products from Rimmel and Sally Hansen and there are plans to add further lines from the likes of L’Oréal Paris and Maybelline next year.

Tony Lye, director for health & beauty at Tesco, says: “Customers tell us that they often search on our website and app for makeup and nail products, so we are incredibly excited to be able to answer their beauty needs for the first time, and bring customers even more of the products they are looking for at Tesco.”