Glovo, a multi-category delivery platform, recently announced the expansion of its operations in Africa to include Ghana and Tunisia. This brings its current operations to a total of seven countries on the continent.
Glovo’s total investment in the region is currently worth a combined total of Ksh. 3.3 billion ($30 million). The company has announced plans to invest an additional Ksh. 6.6 billion ($60 million) 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 recognizes the unique opportunity for the platform within local communities. This is by supporting independent businesses and helping them reach new customers online.
The Glovo app is already available in Kenya, Morocco, Uganda, 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.
Speaking on the expansion, William Benthall, Glovo’s General Manager of Sub-Saharan Africa said, “Our expansion in Africa is something we are very proud of. There has 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.”
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 (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 this year 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. Currently, Glovo is optimizing to get it down to 20 minutes.
In Kenya, Glovo has signed partners like Naivas, Carrefour and Chandarana supermarkets 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. Other in-app purchases include alcohol, health-related products, beauty, and fashion products.