Glovo expands tentacles signs Fnac Spain agreement and C & A, one more example that the war of 'delivery' goes far beyond food delivery

” We have always been more than a food delivery app", says Daniel Alonso, vice president of Q-Commerce of Glovo, the immediate shipping area of the Catalan company.

Glovo's slogan, "we take anything", gradually begins to become reality.

Glovo expands tentacles signs Fnac Spain agreement

"Their model is set so that the more deliveries per hour you make, the more profitable and efficient you are. In addition, delivery companies aspire to be the reference of aggregators, so the more agreements you have can offer more services,” he says.

” It's a struggle to be on what I call the first consumer screen, " he adds.

The strategy is simple: let the customer think of Glovo whenever he needs anything. Something that have been characterized by great giants of e-commerce such as Amazon.

"Our goal is to be the most customer-centric company on Earth. Let our customers find anything, " says the mission of the company founded by Jeff Bezos.

The comparison with Amazon may seem overly ambitious, but it's in Glovo's own mind.

Glovo expands tentacles signs Fnac Spain agreement

After the last round of funding of 450 million euros raised by the Catalan startup —the largest to date achieved by a Spanish company— Pierre told the newspaper CincoDías the following:”In 5 years we will be the largest technology company in Europe and will compete face to face with companies like Amazon".

Can Glovo really compete with Amazon?

“I think so, and somehow they are already doing it. Of course they are managing to position themselves as an important purchase channel, and I am sure that some quota must be already taking away from Amazon”, says Enrique de Diego, guest professor at the University of Navarra, and expert in business strategy.

In this sense, within the Spanish unicorn they have Amazon between eyebrow and eyebrow. The Silicon Valley giant was one of the pioneers in shortening delivery times in their shipments. With its Amazon Prime option, users can receive their products the next day, and even in a few hours.

However, Alonso prefers not to talk about his rivals. "In general, we look little at the competition and what we try is to advance trends and consolidate them before the rest," he says.

Glovo expands tentacles signs Fnac Spain agreement

Success in the future now lies in the ultra-fast sector. There are few companies that, although they have their own e-commerce platform, can cope with the demand for such a service.

For this reason, agreements with different brands and companies are key. They were already in the past when Glovo landed in the delivery of food delivery and managed to sign an exclusivity agreement with McDonald's that catapulted their sales.

The experts consulted assure that in addition to increasing the users of its platform, this type of agreements allow Glovo to enter smaller cities hand in hand with surfaces of great renown.

In the past some of these surfaces such as Carrefour were reluctant to sign agreements with Glovo, but eventually ended up succumbing. Now, supermarkets, little by little, are being followed by major firms in the retail sector.

” For stores this service, even if they already have their shipping options in 2-3 days or click and collect, ultra-fast shipments mean going a step further, " says de la Rica.

Glovo expands tentacles signs Fnac Spain agreement

"Glovo has grown so much that it is perceived as a solid partner. It is no longer just a startup, the big chains have realized that it is a company with growth”, adds Enrique de Diego.

In fact, Alonso points out that the approach with the last two additions to the Glovo catalogue has been mutual. However, after announcing in November its strategic commitment to Q-commcerce “ " many chains and groups with whom we had spoken in the past have approached us to start collaborating,” he says.

The pandemic has accelerated the ultra-fast shipping sector, which has seen in the last year an explosion of companies and has left a millionaire trail of funding, exceeding 8,000 million dollars according to Pitchbook data.

Everything suggests that this acceleration will affect the entire retail chain, beyond the food sector.

Amazon itself now offers free shipping in the United Kingdom through Deliveroo, delivery company in which in 2019 invested around 500 million euros. Although at the moment the option only includes orders to restaurants and grocery stores.

Daniel Alonso points out that these synergies in the digital environment are expected and will be seen more and more in the near future.