How door-step food delivery companies deliver Challenge 25 compliance

Whilst door-step food deliveries and grocery home delivery demand rocketed during the last year, providing a lifeline for many during the pandemic, they remain a permanent fixture. Consumer engagement with the channel remains high, with many holding onto habits developed during the national lockdowns.

Ensuring compliance around the sale and delivery of age restricted products in the grocery home delivery and eat-at-home market, in-line with Challenge 25 policy is something that can’t be overlooked.

Half of UK consumers (60%) buy at least a portion of their groceries online. A further 16% now order all or most of their groceries via the internet, according to Spryker’s UK Online Grocery Report 2022.

More delivery slots have been added across the UK’s major supermarkets since the start of the pandemic, while tens of thousands have been hired to meet demand.

Online food delivery has become one of the most important and potentially lucrative arms of the retail and restaurant industry. The likes of Deliveroo and Zapp are transforming not only how takeaways are ordered, but how groceries are ordered too.

This shift increases the importance of ensuring customer service and compliance policies are being met by front line delivery drivers. A key area is making sure age restricted ordered items, such as alcohol, cigarettes or knives are not given to under age customers.

Leading supermarkets and online food delivery companies use mystery shopping to ensure their delivery drivers are adhering to the Challenge 25 policy. Challenge 25 involves the delivery drivers requesting identification when making deliveries of age restricted products to customers who may appear to be 18 – 25 years of age.

Using an independent test purchase service such as a mystery shopping provider, demonstrates the organisations are taking compliance seriously. A recent trading standards report cited internal test purchasing in their best practice guidelines for selling alcohol/knives.

Working with specialist mystery shopping providers, organisations monitor the compliance of their home delivery drivers to ensure items that are age restricted, such as alcohol, cigarettes or knives are not handed over to anyone under age. Added to this company performance improves due to several factors; awareness amongst staff that they are being randomly tested, increased focus from management on underage legislation, and also specific actions suggested from the mystery shopping insight.

Mystery shopping enables additional standards to be audited such as presentation of drivers and adherence to safety procedures. Therefore organisations can benefit from customer insight via the mystery shopping findings to understand aspects that ultimately improve customer experience.

Find out more about Mystery Shopping Age Checks