INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Supermercato24, an Italian same-day grocery delivery service, has raised €13 million in Series B funding
Leading the round is FII Tech Growth, with participation from new investor Endeavor Catalyst, and current investors 360 Capital Partners,
and Innogest.Similar to Instacart in the U.S
and claiming to be the leader in Italy, Supermercato24 lets customers order from local supermarkets for delivery
The startup uses gig economy-styled personal shoppers who go into the store and ‘pick’ the products ordered and then deliver them
same-day, or for an added cost within an hour.The company charges a delivery fee to consumers, but also generates revenue from fees charged
to partnering merchants, and, notably, through advertising
Supermercato24 says it has more than 15 partnerships with merchants, and has more than 50 consumer packaged goods customers (CPGs)
advertising on its platform.“Our customers represent that increasing share of the population that would love to spend their time
differently rather than doing grocery shopping,” says Supermercato24 CEO Federico Sargenti, who was previously an Amazon Executive and
launched the Amazon FMCG Business in Italy and Spain.“Going to the store, pushing a cart through the alleys, queuing up, checking out and
lifting heavy grocery shopping bags from the store’s register all the way up to your apartment can take lots of energy and up to 3 hours
Plenty of people would prefer to do all of that in a few minutes”.Specifically, Sargenti says that Supermercato24’s customers span
“hip youngsters to elderly people, single professionals to parents and working couples,” and that more than 65 percent of customers are
“Customers have high expectations on their groceries, because they are used to choosing from a wide product range at supermarkets, with
competitive prices and qualitative fresh products
Plus, they expect a comfortable, convenient and same-day delivery
And that’s what we offer them,” he adds.The company’s grocery ordering and delivery service is active in more than 23 Italian cities,
and Supermercato24 says a number of cities are already profitable at contribution margin level
That said, Sargenti concedes it is still early days in terms of the switch from offline grocery shopping to online
He also says that Southern Europe has been historically limited by a lack of supply and that the way to address this is a collaboration
between traditional grocery retailers and tech companies like Supermercato24, a model that he insists can scale in both large and small
cities.The Italian grocery market is particularly fragmented, too, with the top 5 retailers owning less than 40 percent of the national
grocery market, apparently
This arguably makes it more ripe for a marketplace rather than traditional e-grocery delivery model
One challenge is that the majority of people in Italy don’t live in large cities or other high population density areas of the country
It is Supermercato24’s ability to scale in low density areas — or so it claims — that gives it an edge.Meanwhile, I’m told the new
funding will be used to improve operations and product both for customers and for merchants, as well as to expand the service to new markets
“In Europe, Supermercato24 is already the biggest on-demand e-grocery marketplace in terms of revenues and it’s already in discussion
with current and prospect retailers to expand the service across Europe to successfully replicate Instacart’s case,” says the company,
