GLOVO GROWING GLOBALLY WITH AFRICA AS A FOCUS

GLOVO GROWING GLOBALLY WITH AFRICA AS A FOCUS

“Leading global technology platform doubling its investment to expand its operations in Africa, with plans to hire top talent in these markets, raising the bar for on-demand delivery and strengthening its commitment to Africa”.

By Mary Kibe

Glovo, one of the world’s leading multi-category delivery platforms, recently announced the expansion of its operations in Africa, to include Ghana and Tunisia, bringing its current operations to a total of seven countries on the continent.

Glovo’s investment in the region to date

is worth a combined total of $30M and

the company expects to invest an

additional $60M over the next 12 months

to further accelerate expansion. The

company believes there are a number of

key markets in Africa that are currently

underserved and recognises the unique

opportunity for the platform within

local communities by supporting

independent businesses and helping them

reach new customers online.

Glovo app is already available in

Morocco, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Côte

d’Ivoire and Nigeria, bringing its

services to more than 40 cities, more

than 300,000 users, 8,000 restaurants

and 12,000 couriers. Glovo launched

operations in Accra in Ghana earlier

this year, with the city of Tema

following last month and it expects to

launch in Tunis in Tunisia this October.

William Benthall, Glovo’s General

Manager of Sub-Saharan Africa, said:

“Our expansion in Africa is something we

are very proud of. There’s been an

unprecedented spike in the on-demand

delivery business in Africa and the

expansion of our services to new

countries and cities is both a

reflection of that trend and a testament

of our commitment to the continent. We

believe what sets us apart is our multi

category offer where at a click of a

button we can deliver anything that fits

on a bike to our users.”

Glovo already has core local leadership

teams in its established countries in

Africa and the company is committed to

continuing its policy to hire top local

talent. During the initial phase of its

new expansion, the company plans to

double its number of employees and add

another 200 employees across the region

by the end of 2022.

Glovo is on track to scale up its Q-

Commerce Division (that’s “Q” for

quick). Q-Commerce means that consumers

can use Glovo to order from their

favourite supermarkets and neighbourhood

stores, and now additionally order from

Glovo Market. Glovo Kenya launched its

own Micro Fulfillment Centre in June

2021 with the intent of reducing the

amount of time taken during deliveries

to under 30 minutes. Glovo plans to

launch more MFCs, as there is still

unmet demand at a much larger scale, as

consumers continue to adopt online

groceries shopping with over 5% MoM

growth in Africa.

Glovo Market uses the latest in-store

digital technology and dedicated

resources to ensure the quickest

possible delivery time. Micro

Fulfillment Centers have considerably

reduced the delivery time from 45

minutes to 30 minutes. Currently Glovo

is optimising to get it down to 20

minutes. Furthermore, the MFCs have also

enabled wider coverage and, in turn,

grown the number of Q-commerce orders.

In Kenya, Glovo has signed top partners

like Naivas, Carrefour and Chandarana on

their platform to serve diverse

customer needs. Groceries have played a

huge role in the spike of orders, and

currently have the lion’s share of the

market. Glovo controls more than 50% of

the groceries deliveries in Kenya. Some

of the other in-app purchases include

alcohol, health-related products,

beauty, and fashion products.

Demand for world-class online shopping

opportunities is growing exponentially

in Africa’s leading economies, as

urbanization and incomes continue to

rise, according to McKinsey Global

Institute and there is still vast room

to grow in Africa.

Glovo is a pioneering multi-category

delivery app and one of the world’s

leading technology platforms

intermediating in the on-demand delivery

industry. Founded in Barcelona in 2015,

it operates in South West Europe,

Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The app connects users with restaurants,

grocery chains, pharmacies where the

law allows it, retail stores, and also

includes an “Anything” category that

allows users to order whatever they

want.