Efood: Development of a network of stores with a reversal of the scene in retail

Of George Lampiris

New data in the field of small retail and e-commerce in Greece is brought by the official closing of the acquisition agreement of the four companies of the Mouchalis group by Delivery Hero.

We remind you that last October Delivery Hero announced the acquisition of Alfa Distributions SA. (trade and distribution of confectionery and wine cellar in small retail), INKAT (development of Kiosky’s stores and kiosks and ekiosky’s platform), delivery.gr (ordering platform for ready meals and supermarket products) and e-table.gr, which is an electronic platform restaurant reservations.

According to executives of efood, a subsidiary of the Delivery Hero group in Greece, the agreement between the two parties is formally closed and then the individual companies are transferred from the Mouchalis group to Delivery Hero.

In essence, efood is evolving into a 360o retailer of services, which includes product distribution, partner network and franchise store network, online retail with efood Market and last mile consumer services.

Utilization of darkstores, retail and the last mile

More specifically, through this acquisition and the cooperation, efood will be able to utilize on its behalf the darkstores that it had developed in collaboration with the Mouchalis group before the acquisition, which will serve the goods distribution services for the efood Market platform. .

Distribution will be centrally serviced through Alpha Distributions’s proprietary logistics facilities, which will supply products in addition to the 42 darkstores and 500 retail outlets such as Kiosky’s Convenience Stores, hard franchise outlets, and affiliate retailers. and operate in the form of a soft franchise.

The goal is to increase the number of retail outlets that will join the efood umbrella in the near future, with the company focusing its interest on small neighborhood stores.

In essence, the new scheme created through the acquisition will offer tobacco products, fast meals such as breakfast, technology products, while synergies will be developed with efood with the ultimate goal of creating a modern small retail network.

The efood Market is driven towards the operation of a supermarket, but with a significant difference in the provision of services with speed within the same day on which the order is placed.

A key difference compared to traditional supermarkets is that it will have up to 5,000 codes, without having in its portfolio the heavy code list of more than 15,000 products offered by a supermarket.

The main goal of efood Market is to meet the spontaneous and immediate needs of consumers, filling a gap that exists in the market.

In addition, the stores that exist in the network, after the completion of the acquisition of the companies of the Mouchalis group, will be a wide and growing network of small retail for the needs of each neighborhood.

Another point to be exploited, which brings to the fore the acquisition of the companies of the Mouchalis group are the online services such as etable and ekiosky’s.

The crisis of 2021 and the #cancelefood phenomenon

Regarding the serious crisis that efood went through in the fall of 2021 and the wave of #cancelefood that took on significant dimensions in our country, the company executives confirm that it was indeed a crisis that the company went through.

“What we tried to do was the best for the distributors, employing about 2,000 people on an indefinite contract and showing that the company wants to have distributors firmly by its side, improving their working conditions.

We never intended to turn people from dependent to non-dependent work. “It was a complete misunderstanding and the way all this was taken out was wrong”, the same executives state.

The employment status of distributors

Efood currently works with distributors, who are part of its payroll on a full-time or part-time basis. According to the company executives, an eight-hour distributor receives a salary of 1,370 euros per month gross and more – calculated on a twelve-month basis – including gifts, surcharges, fuel, food stamps and all service allowances for the motorbike. They also make it clear that the company is moving above the base salary in terms of remuneration. In addition to the salary, the company provides private insurance.

Collaborating distributors – freelancers have a fee determined per order based on the distance they will travel per kilometer with the estimated distance being in a straight line and not with any turns or detours. There is an allowance for the maintenance of the motorcycle, which amounts to approximately 103 euros per month.

In essence, if one makes 300 distributions per month, one will receive the full allowance, while if one makes less, the amount is calculated proportionally. There are currently more than 4,000 pending applications for distributors interested in efood, according to the company.

More than 2 million registered users – 50% of them are active on a monthly basis

Regarding the activity of efood in Greece, it cooperates with more than 20,000 stores, whether they are restaurants or books and stationery companies such as Nakas Books.

It also distributes pharmacy products, developing partnerships with major online market players such as tofarmakeiomou and pharmacy295. The distribution platform currently has over 2 million registered users with about half active each month.

The next step for efood Market is to continue to develop its code. It currently distributes about 3,000 codes, including supermarket products. The goal is to reach up to 5,000 codes soon.

Its executives state that efood Market is not considered a competitor of a large supermarket, as it offers products or services that do not provide the traditional supermarkets and distribution on Sundays and public holidays from 8.00 to 00.45.

In the last three months, efood Market delivers in 16 minutes, applying the logic of quick commerce, it is pointed out by the same sources.

The cooperation with Sklavenitis continues smoothly in several cities of Greece. Sklavenitis is part of the evolution of efood’s business in recent years, say the same sources.

The cities in which the cooperation with Sklavenitis is implemented are: Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Volos, Larissa, Trikala, Ioannina, Serres, Xanthi, Heraklion, Crete.