Glovo, a pioneering multi-category app has launched Glovo Local, a new programme for small and medium-sized businesses in the retail and restaurant industries to enable them to digitise their products and services in order to boost their growth.
Launching in all 25 markets in which Glovo operates, it is the first such programme in Europe, Africa, and Asia that provides a consolidated portfolio of services and solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, specific to their needs.
Services available to them include digital and operational solutions for their own channels and stores; dedicated tools to help them to manage their operations at point of sale and grow their businesses with marketing and advertising capabilities to help them to reach new customers and increase their visibility.
Rodrigo Alier, Executive Director, Partners & Brands at Glovo, in a statement issued in Accra on Friday said" Only 20 per cent of merchants globally conduct their business online highlighting the urgent need for more to find routes to digitisation. More than 100,000 of the businesses we work with globally are small local businesses, and the cost-of-living crisis is weighing heavily on them."
"Glovo aims to have more than 250,000 small local businesses online by the end of 2023. We acknowledge the role we play in helping those businesses thrive, and with Glovo Local we put them front and centre of our strategy, doubling down on our tech and operational efforts to bring them more and better solutions to boost their businesses."
He said "Using the tools Glovo Local provides, we can help them reach more customers, accelerating their way to growth and sustainable profitability. This is how we pave the way for businesses to grow and boost local economies."
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"From research we've recently conducted in nine countries, it's clear that businesses are collectively expecting a tough time ahead. Every second business sees itself unprepared for the future. In the UK alone, that number goes up to 80 per cent, with two-thirds already in survival mode. Glovo Local and all its brand new technological capabilities have been developed with one goal in mind - to help these businesses not only see a way through current economic turmoil, but to go from surviving to thriving," he said.
The launch of Glovo Local coincides with research commissioned by Glovo in nine markets.
It found that 80 per cent of small and medium-sized UK businesses in the retail and restaurant industries are worried about their future profitability, and 32 per cent were facing the challenge of reduced consumer spending.
