- In late February, GPA reported that would no longer use exclusively its app, James Delivery, for solving the last-mile delivery step;
- With GPA back on its platform, Rappi improves its offer of groceries with one of the largest supermarket chains in South America – and is one step closer to its strategy of becoming Latin America’s main superapp;
- GPA announced the acquisition of the delivery app James Delivery at the end of 2018;
- As the pandemic pushed an unprecedented number of consumers to online grocery shopping, GPA reviewed the strategy and is opening possibilities for new partnerships with more delivery apps.
Colombian superapp Rappi has announced it will once again have the supermarket chain Grupo Pão de Açúcar (GPA) on its platform. In late February, GPA reported that would no longer use exclusively its app, James Delivery, for solving the last-mile delivery step, opening room for new partnerships to arise.
“With GPA’s return, we have further improved our offer on the app in the main Brazilian cities where GPA operates”, says Ana Bógus, global director of Supermarkets, Pharmacies and Drinks at Rappi. “The different retail formats that GPA has, such as hypermarket, supermarkets and proximity stores, will bring more product diversity and agility so that products reach the end-user faster.”
According to the exec, Rappi has two ways of delivering grocery shopping: large baskets at scheduled times and smaller baskets, delivered in less than 35 minutes. “Due to its nationwide coverage and presence in several store formats, GPA fits perfectly into Rappi’s strategy – and vice versa,” says Bógus.
To LABS, GPA informed via e-mail that it has been following the changes in consumer behavior and decided to improve its digital strategy by expanding the purchasing options for its customers.
“In addition to James, the last-mile platform acquired in 2018, GPA is beginning to close deals with other delivery apps. The first of these is Rappi, which is already in pilot operation in some of our stores,” the company added. “As part of this strategy of leveraging digital transformation, the group launched its marketplace last November and will also start selling the products of Pão de Açúcar and Extra chains in a virtual shopping on digital platforms.”
“GPA has been analyzing potential agreements and is already in an advanced stage of implementing the partnership with Mercado Livre, in addition to being in contact with all the main platforms that operate in this segment.”
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The Brazilian retail giant GPA announced the acquisition of the delivery app James Delivery at the end of 2018, as an effort to have its own player to enhance the last-mile delivery strategy. But as the pandemic pushed an unprecedented number of consumers to online grocery shopping, GPA reviewed the strategy and opened up its possibilities.
For the retailer, the partnership with Rappi meets such growing demand and acceleration of food e-commerce. “The expansion of our partnerships will strengthen our leadership position in food e-commerce in the country, with a greater range of last-mile delivery ”, added Rodrigo Pimentel, director of e-commerce at GPA.
“With the arrival of the main retailer on the continent, there is also an organic traffic of very loyal customers to the GPA flags, such as Pão de Açúcar and Extra, who will now have with Rappi another option to receive products from their favorite stores,” added Bógus, from Rappi.