How will the landing of the e-commerce giant affect the agricultural sector?
At the 35th AECOC Congress of Large Consumption, the VP Country Manager of Amazon in Spain and Italy, Mariangela Marseglia, stated that during the lockdown, many consumers “had discovered that online commerce offers good prices, convenience, speed and a broad catalogue; therefore, the future involves becoming more multi-channel than ever.” After the announcement at the beginning of February of Amazon Fresh’s launch in Spain, this statement makes even more sense. The service, exclusive to Prime customers, allows over 10,000 articles to be purchased, including fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, receiving the delivery the same day in two-hour time slots and without any delivery costs if the order is over 50 €. It is being launched in Madrid and will shortly reach Barcelona, and then move on to other cities. As opposed to Prime Now, an independent web site through which it already sold fresh and frozen food, this new service is housed on Amazon.es.
Camille Bur, country manager of Amazon Fresh in Spain, explained that this service intends to “make things easier for consumers” and it is added to the Dia store, available since January on Amazon.es with over 7,000 articles of its own brand, along with local products and large brand names.
Fruit Today asked the sector: What effect could it have on online selling of fresh produce? Could it unleash a price war with retail outlets?
Enrique Colilles, Gen. Man. at Trops. “More competition, an opportunity”
“There already is a price war, even without Amazon Fresh. I think that the competition is going to grow, and it is going to be a good opportunity for companies like Trops, which have been developing processes, both regarding knowledge and investment, for many years that allow us to guarantee the quality of our fruit and put it on any market in optimum conditions. A more competitive market will seek out and give priority to suppliers that guarantee a supply without wastage, and where each piece of fruit is guaranteed to be a success”.
Juan Segura, Chairman of Coprohníjar. “They are capable of anything”
I don’t think that they will deal with large volumes because when we talk about perishable produce… although they are capable of anything. If it were profitable for the farmers, it wouldn’t matter whether they were called Amazon or Ali Baba. What remains to be seen is whether a price war with the retail outlets will come about. We will see what happens.
