Fifteen years after closing the first online supermarket in the country, Portuguese supermarket chain Pingo Doce has relaunched its e-commerce operations.
The supermarket banner of retail group Jerónimo Martins closed its online food store in 2003, after only five years, citing the “poor value and size” of the market segment, however, Pingo Doce is now returning to the world of online retail.
Jornal de Negocios reports that the retailer has joined online shopping platform Mercadão, which offers delivery in Lisbon, Sintra, Porto and Matosinhos.
The website currently sells a range of 6,000 grocery products from Pingo Doce, as well as other companies such Vinha wines and Arcadia chocolates.
Asked by Jornal de Negócios whether this move could be a pilot for its own online store, a source from Jerónimo Martins replied that "it is not a test, it is a partnership that could be extended to other areas of the country”.
The source added that e-commerce has not been a strategic priority for the retail group as its network of 400 stores already provides close contact with consumers, offering them “freshness and convenience", while "only a very small" percentage of Portuguese shoppers buy fresh food online.
Food Delivery
Elsewhere, Pingo Doce is also considering expanding into the meal delivery business, offering a service similar Uber Eats or Glovo in Portugal, according to Expresso.
The grocery retailer already has a catering and take-out service, where food is ordered via phone or in the supermarket, and is delivered to the Pingo Doce store selected by the customer for collection.
Although the service still represents a small part of the retailer’s business, strong growth has been observed during holiday periods. For example, this Easter, orders grew by 30% compared to the same period last year, while sales last Christmas were up by 50%.
The head of Pingo Doce’s dining solutions business, João Freitas, told Expresso that the business is going so well so the retailer has come up with the idea of starting home deliveries.
The plan is to launch a dedicated app or use an existing one, however, a launch date has not yet been confirmed, because the existing production capacities at Pingo Doce's three kitchens - located in Odivelas, Gaia and Aveiro - need to be optimised first.
The Pingo Doce restaurants serve more than 10,000 meals a day, and this year, its three kitchens will produce 10,000 tonnes of dishes, desserts and soups.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
