Japanese-owned American international convenience store company, 7-Eleven Group, is bolstering its last mile capabilities by acquiring a majority interest in Tipple – Australia’s largest on-demand alcohol delivery start-up.
Tipple provides customers a unique ‘bottle shop in your pocket’ experience, delivering in 30 minutes by partnering with local independent bottle shops.
Since launching in October 2015, Tipple has grown rapidly to service more than 120 suburbs across Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, with more zones, cities and bottle shop partners targeted for the next twelve months in a bid to disrupt Australia’s alcohol market.
Tipple is driven by a proprietary technology platform that has been developed in-house by Tipple’s founders and engineering team to seamlessly integrate with local bottle shops and facilitate on-demand ‘last-mile’ delivery logistics at a national scale.
“7-Eleven led the way in digital innovation with our world-first Fuel app, and continue to explore how we can best meet the evolving needs of our convenience customers through digital, delivery and in-store services.
“Tipple’s business model and platform is well-aligned with these interests, and has grown significantly since starting up less than three years ago.
“While in time there may be interesting opportunities for the two businesses to explore and work together serving convenience customers, for now this partnership is about bringing our customer insights and marketing expertise to help accelerate the growth and expansion of Tipple as a standalone business,” he said.
Ryan Barrington, Founder and CEO of Tipple, welcomed the backing of Australia’s largest convenience retailer.
“We couldn’t be happier to be preparing for the next phase of Tipple’s growth alongside 7-Eleven,” said Barrington.
“Their expertise and capabilities are unparalleled, but it’s our shared ambition to create new and engaging customer experiences on the cutting edge of convenience that excites us most. We’re very excited about the potential for this partnership to transform the landscape of both alcohol and convenience retailing in Australia,” he said.
Tipple was represented by Hillside Capital and Gadens as financial & legal advisors in the transaction.