Buymie, a new on-demand grocery delivery app, has this week launched an outdoor billboard campaign ‘trolling’ Aldi after the retailer threatened legal action

Buymie, which launched in February 2016, is an Irish grocery delivery service that allows users to have their shopping handpicked and delivered to their door in 1 hour. Buymie which is based in Ireland, is one of the first recipients of Enterprise Ireland’s International Entrepreneurs Competitive Investment Fund and was classified as a High Potential Start-Up by Enterprise Ireland in 2015, after raising a sizable round of funds from Angel investors.

Buymie allows users to order from Tesco, Aldi and other local stores. However, within 4 weeks of their launch, Aldi issued a Cease and Desist letter threatening legal action over the display of their logo and products within the Buymie app. Aldi demanded that Buymie sign an agreement that would prevent them from ever advertising the Buymie business again. This would effectively mean closing down the business. Buymie has responded by launching an outdoor billboard campaign strategically placed outside Dublin-based Aldi stores.

Commenting on the letter, Devan Hughes, CEO of Buymie, said: “We were pretty shocked to receive such a letter so soon after we launched. Our users loved being able to order from Aldi, in fact by the end of our first 4 weeks we had actually brought nearly €10,000 worth of additional business to Aldi stores alone. Our pickers pay full price for products in-store just like any other customer, and we also take care of the whole fulfillment process, so we very much felt it was a win win for everyone. Given that Buymie is a fun new tech start-up, we decided to respond in the only way we felt appropriate.”

Since receiving the letter from Aldi, Buymie has expressed that they are open to partnership as they see no reason why the two businesses can’t work together to provide customers with a new and exciting level of convenience. They have also cleverly addressed any legal concerns by removing all trace of Aldi’s branding and instead simply offer users the ability to select a “German Discounter” in the app.

Devan Hughes continued: “Although we will always be fully open to working with any retailer that would like to work with us, Aldi included, we won’t be bullied into closing down Buymie. We have an exciting new app that is creating incredible value for our users saving them a huge amount of time. We recognise that consumer needs are evolving and that the market is ripe for disruption and big retailers can either fight to suppress new technology or get behind it, either way change is coming.”