They landed two years ago promising to change the buying habits of Spanish consumers at the supermarket. With its technology, there was no need to go down to the supermarket to make a last-minute purchase. In ten minutes, a delivery man could take her to the front door. This was the service of the quick commerce platforms Getir, Gorillas, Dija and GoPuff, which just two years after their arrival have practically disappeared from the Spanish market. Perhaps Getir, which announced an ERO to its entire workforce this week, could maintain a minimal operation, but unions see that as highly unlikely. The investment funds that finance these startups have turned off the tap to the excessive investment that characterized the years of the pandemic and the rise of e-commerce. Since the middle of last year – when interest rates and inflation began to rise – the funds have been demanding that the participating companies turn a profit as soon as possible. And it is clear that Spain is not a profitable market: Gopuff acquired Dija and left the country in the summer of 2022 and, this year, Gorillas was acquired by Getir and will eventually disappear.
The official reasons for leaving Spain are not known. These startups – some are unicorns, because they have more than 1,000 million in value – are hermetic when it comes to sharing data. Asked by this newspaper several times, Getir has refused to explain the business figures and user recruitment in Spain. This week it was defended in the fact of “respecting the ERO negotiation process”, which affects more than 1,500 workers at the bases in Madrid, Barcelona, ??Valencia, Seville and Malaga.
At the beginning of the landing of the service in Spain, Hunab Moreno, founder of the startup Blok – which was acquired by Getir (managed in Spain by himself after the acquisition) – explained in this newspaper that the margins are not particularly low – of 30-40%, just like conventional supermarkets, which instead of paying delivery staff, pay cashiers – and that the service could work with a network of a dozen small warehouses located in such a way strategic in the city. However, Moreno admitted that in the first months the margins were smaller to attract customers, with low prices and marketing campaigns.
Without current data on the table, one can only conclude that the business is not profitable and has not achieved the expected customer acquisition of the service. In fact, Niklas Östberg, CEO of the multinational delivery company Delivery Hero, acknowledged in this newspaper a few months ago that “the q-commerce supermarket product channel still poses a great challenge because the consumer is not in the habit of the last minute purchase through platforms”. The German group, owner of Glovo, is one of the pioneers in introducing this ultra-fast delivery service in Europe. This division accounts for 10% of their revenue, so the big business opportunity remains restaurant food delivery.
Spain is not the only country where quick commerce is in decline. In France, Getir has also recently announced the exit of the country and the entry into bankruptcy of the local division. If two years ago there were 19 operators of this service in Europe, now (and after several concentration processes) there are only three large companies left: Getir, GoPuff and Flink. None have future plans in Spain.
