Business

Digital grocery app Daki pushes verticalization plans and launches its own brand

The startup, which is a subsidiary of JOKR in Brazil, also invested BRL 3 million in its third distribution center. It expects to see its branded products answer for 15% of its revenue in twelve months.

Rodrigo Maroja, Alex Bretzner, Rafael Vasto. Photo: Courtesy/Daki

Fabiane Ziolla Menezes

27.Apr.2022 16:28 BRT
UPDATED 19:01 BRT

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Obsessed (in a good way) with customer experience, Daki, a Brazilian digital grocery and delivery app that last year announced a merger with JOKR, has taken a new step in its verticalization model. Operating for just a year, the startup has launched its own brand, starting with selected Argentine wines and a mix of bakery products. Hygiene, food, and other product categories are on the startup‘s pipeline for the following months.

Ino, Daki’s own brand is made from selected wines from Mendoza, Argentina. Photo: Courtesy.

The startup also revealed its third large distribution center in the city of Barueri, Sao Paulo state — until then, the company was operating through two smaller centers and its 100 dark stores spread across six cities: Sao Paulo, Campinas, Guarulhos, Rio de Janeiro, Niteroi, and Belo Horizonte. According to Rafael Vasto, CEO and co-founder of Daki alongside Alex Bretzner and Rodrigo Maroja, the startup invested BRL 3 million (around $2.6 million) in its new distribution center and already has more than 100 people working on logistics operations.

For now, there are no plans to add new cities to the app. “Once we feel more comfortable; with everything operating the way we want in the cities where we already are, we will reassess our plans. We should look at geographic expansion again at the end of the year,” Vasto told LABS.

The startup follows a vertical model, with its own stores, stock management, and buyers, in addition to dedicated couriers. Thus, Daki can guarantee the best customer experience, as it has control of the entire purchase process, enabling delivery within 15 minutes, free of charge, and without errors. In addition, its model also helps Daki control costs by reducing the number of intermediaries in transactions.

Product and innovation manager at Daki, Gabriela Seirafe, said that the startup seeks to offer products up to 10%, 15% cheaper than the market average “when these products are comparable” to others. In the case of products that seek exclusivity, though, the price factor loses ground to other company’s pillars, such as quality.

Based in New York (USA), JOKR merged with Brazilian startup Daki in 2021. In Brazil, operations are controlled by Daki, which acts as a subsidiary. JOKR, in addition to the USA and Brazil through Daki, also operates in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile. In December, JOKR raised $260 million, reaching a market cap of $1.2 billion and achieving (like Daki) unicorn status.