Magdalena Szuszkiewicz, manager for Spain of the startup Gorillas.
Platforms have become masters of the economy.
Transport, mobility, social networks, finances ... And even grocery shopping, those of the supermarket of a lifetime.
Although with one caveat.
These supermarkets do not have physical customers.
Only workers set foot in warehouses.
They are the so-called
super ghost.
For a couple of years, these emerging companies (startups) dominate websites and mobiles with proposals for ultra-fast deliveries, less than 10 minutes.
The German Gorillas is the example to follow.
In just four months it reached the milestone of a
unicorn -
an emerging technology valued above $ 1 billion - and now, almost a year after its birth, it is roaming freely in many countries.
More information
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Grover: the platform that offers mobile phones or computers for rent lands in Spain
In Spain it landed in the middle of last June. Enough time to open your application to users in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Marbella, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca. As their manager for Spain, Magdalena Szuszkiewicz (Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, aged 33) explains by video call, they have never before expanded so rapidly in the same country. "It's a record for us," he says. The technological simplicity of its proposal - an automated ordering and delivery process and an
app
without much fanfare - and the summer holidays are partly to blame. “We have taken advantage of these dates to expand the delivery areas to summer resorts. We hope to have full coverage in large cities, such as Bilbao or Zaragoza, between September and October ”.
Sustainability appears constantly in Szuszkiewicz's speech. He is aware that for a sector such as agri-food, in which his organization plays the role of distributor and of promoting a more ecological and local consumption - "users are concerned about the environment and the origin of the products," he adds— , food waste has no place. With its ultra-fast model, at least it thinks so, such a problem is fought. Each person buys on demand, depending on what they need at that time. “We have to fight against more than half of the food we buy ending up in the garbage. Something that almost always happens when we make weekly, fortnightly and monthly purchases, "he says.
During a good part of his plea in defense of the environment, he appealed to local commerce. He constantly reiterates that fresh food agreements with local producers, retail and family stores - "in Spain more than half of the orders are made up of these products", he points out - grow and grow within Gorillas. A trend that, added to that of some distributors who only distribute by electric bicycle, integrate the green model that it aspires to export to other emerging companies. “We are facing a very ambitious goal. We are talking about a change in mentality, a social behavior rooted for a long time and that a single company will not be enough to correct it, he says.
He does not intend to start a war with more classic establishments, but he does not understand that, without giving a name, the vast majority take more than 24 hours to deliver orders.
Its business model, as detailed, is divided into three minutes to prepare the shipping products in the warehouse and another seven or eight to take them home (the user pays 1.80 in shipping costs).
A format that has not stopped generating competition.
Glovo has been betting on ghost supermarkets for a couple of years, but so far this year, Block and Dija have joined the trend.
Spanish laboratory
Spain also serves as a testing laboratory. Szuszkiewicz describes that with the recipes they intend to make the application more dynamic, although they are still in the testing period. Apart from the typical food categories, they have incorporated a section of daily recipes. If we like any of them, apart from learning how to cook it, by clicking on it we will take all the necessary products directly to the shopping basket. A way to have a menu at hand without having to think about what to prepare. "We are even looking for people in networks with whom to promote this format of healthy and typical Spanish food," he sums up.
The other aspect that you want to boost is that of data analytics. In less than a year, Gorillas has not stopped amassing information about its users. And now we need to really take advantage of it. Szuszkiewicz has Amazon and its recommendation engine in mind when shopping. You would like to adjust orders in the
app
with this algorithm recommendation ability. There is not even anything in beta. At the moment it is in the development drawer. “Ideally, if we detect that you are vegan, we only offer you this type of food. Or if we cross your usual purchases with those of similar users, we recommend specific products ”, he quits.
Success has come without warning, with some surprise. Szuszkiewicz has a hard time assessing what has led Gorillas to become a European unicorn in record time. The investment has been capital, but it refuses to trust all the expansion to money. “We make mistakes, but we learn and adjust. We got here in just 10 months. In this time we have not stopped learning. This model works, but we have to go further, as with our commitment to sustainability ”, he argues.
With the idea of growing without being disliked by anyone, Szuszkiewicz acknowledges that when they arrive in a new neighborhood, they give neighbors special discounts on their in-app purchases. "This is how we present ourselves to them," he says. He does not want at all to compare them with the so-called ghost kitchens or
dark kitchens
- establishments used only to cook orders at home - that have earned such a bad reputation in countless cities after their presence exploded during the pandemic. “The idea is that the
riders
are inside the supermarkets, that they have their space so as not to make noise on the street. It's about not disturbing anyone. We have even soundproofed the premises just in case, ”concludes Szuszkiewicz.
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