Italy is to get its second personal supermarket shopping service, with the launch of PayPerShopping.com.
The platform is the brainchild of Francesco Palombino, in an attempt to recreate the success of California-based start-up Instacart.
It works by the customer selecting the nearest supermarket, preparing the shopping list and looking for the closest "personal shopper" in the area: who will do the shopping in store and then agree to leave the bags in the supermarket or deliver them to the customer’s door. The user of the service will pay a commission to both the shopper (a percentage of the total cost, at least €3) and to PayPerShopping (€0.50).
The website has currently over 4,700 members, of which over 1,940 are registered as "shoppers". By the end of April, PayPerShopping hopes to have 5,000 shoppers and 15,000 participating supermarkets throughout Italy.
Both customers and shoppers can be members of the platform. The shopper pays in advance: the customer/buyer will in practice reimburse the cost of the bill and pay the commission. If the customer does not show up, or does not pay the bill, the shopper will be reimbursed directly by PayPerShopping – up to a maximum amount of €100.
PayPerShopping will have to compete with Supermercato 24, a start-up delivery service that offers Italian consumers same day delivery thanks to the use of delivery men to buy and deliver goods. Payment is made in cash upon delivery. The service costs around 15 per cent of the basket value, in addition to a delivery charge (minimum €3.50, but can be higher depending on the proximity of the chosen supermarket). The supermarket pays 1.5 per cent of their earning on the order to the service.
Supermercato 24 currently has 250 people on its shopping and delivery team, a figure that should grow to 1,800 by June.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic
