PRESS RELEASE: STELLARTON, NS, June 22, 2020 /CNW/ – Today, Empire Company Limited BB #:116615 introduces the future of online grocery home delivery to the Greater Toronto Area . The Company’s newest ecommerce platform, Voilà by Sobeys has a freshness guarantee and products at affordable prices with no hidden fees, delivered straight to customers’ doors in convenient one-hour delivery windows. Starting June 22, customers in Vaughan will be able to order online at voila.ca or by downloading the Voilà mobile app. Service across the GTA will follow in the coming weeks.
Voilà is powered by Ocado Group plc’s (“Ocado”) industry-leading technology and fills orders through its state-of-the-art automated Customer Fulfillment Centre (“CFC”) in Vaughan, Ontario. Robots assemble orders efficiently and safely, resulting in minimal product handling, while Voilà teammates safely deliver orders directly to the customer’s home.
“Voilà by Sobeys is the future of online grocery retail in Canada, and now it’s here,” said Michael Medline, President & CEO of Empire. “Ocado’s technology gives us the best e-commerce platform in the country – there’s nothing like it in North America. We can’t wait to share Voilà with our customers in the GTA this summer and across Canada in the future.”
Voilà is the first and only grocery retailer to offer Farm Boy and Well.ca products through its online home delivery service. Voilà customers will be able to shop for thousands of fresh produce and grocery products from Sobeys, alongside customer favourites from Farm Boy and health, wellness, baby, pet, and beauty products from Well.ca.
“Canadians deserve a better way to shop for groceries online,” said Sarah Joyce, SVP, E-commerce of Empire. “Because Voilà delivers customers’ orders directly from an automated warehouse, we have tremendous control over the freshness and quality of our products and the reliability of our deliveries. Our teammates are ready to provide best-in-class service to our customers.”
At capacity, Voilà by Sobeys will bring approximately 1,500 jobs to the area, including operations, delivery, and customer service teammates. A second CFC is currently being built in Montreal to bring Voilà par IGA to major cities in the province of Quebec as well as Ottawa.
Our response to COVID-19
In response to the impact that COVID-19 has had on Canadians, Empire has implemented significant safety protocols to keep Voilà by Sobeys teammates and customers safe, following standards and recommendations set out by the Public Health Agency of Canada. These include frequent cleaning and sanitization of warehouse and delivery vehicles, hygiene standards for all teammates and equipping delivery vehicles with sanitizer and cleaning supplies. Delivery teammates wear face masks upon arrival to homes and change gloves and sanitize in between each delivery, and all teammates respect physical distancing guidelines. Given the current need for ‘contactless’ deliveries, all orders will be left at customers’ doorstep or lobby. Delivery teammates will call customers ahead of time for specific delivery instructions.
For more information, please visit www.voila.ca.
ABOUT EMPIRE
Empire Company Limited (TSX: EMP.A) is a Canadian company headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Empire’s key businesses are food retailing, through wholly-owned subsidiary Sobeys Inc., and related real estate. With approximately $26.6 billion in annualized sales and $14.6 billion in assets, Empire and its subsidiaries, franchisees and affiliates employ approximately 127,000 people.
Additional financial information relating to Empire, including the Company’s Annual Information Form, can be found on the Company’s website at www.empireco.ca or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
