Arrives 10 minutes after placing an order? "Ghost supermarket" became popular in Spain

The Spanish "Le Monde" website recently reported that in Madrid, Spain, the boom of "ghost supermarkets" is completely changing consumer habits.

At 8:30 p.m., you open the refrigerator. Inside were only a little ham, a ripe banana, and a lonely kiwi fruit. You're too lazy to go to the supermarket and decide to shop online with an app you just downloaded. While you're still boiling water for pasta, the order has arrived on your doorstep within a quarter of an hour.

People no longer need to make a weekly shopping plan, but can make one order every 2 to 3 days and buy less at a time. If the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a rush for food delivery, it's now the turn of the momentum to get home in ultra-fast online shopping.

As is the case in cities such as Barcelona and Valencia, dozens of ghost supermarkets appear in the center of Madrid. These supermarkets are all strategically located in sales and share the same characteristics: there are no cashiers and they are not open to the public.

These supermarkets don't care if they catch people's attention, or even have signs or ads. Only employees can enter the supermarket: the picker collects the product, and the rider is responsible for delivering the product to the customer's home.

And all of this was done in record short periods of time, as riders from these businesses typically deliver orders in as little as 10 minutes. The prices here are similar to those of a regular supermarket, with delivery costs around 2 euros.

Unlike the "ghost kitchens" that have sparked numerous public protests, these supermarkets have not provoked public outrage in Madrid, although protests have also occurred in Barcelona.

With these ghost supermarkets there are no smell and smoke problems with ghost kitchens, although surrounding residents occasionally complain that delivery riders crowd the road.

One resident complained: "Motorcycles are noisy and continue until late because they don't have a dedicated loading and unloading area. Another resident said: "They cause a lot of trouble because the delivery riders have been playing mobile phones and some elderly people have even been squeezed out of the sidewalk." ”

Moreno, general manager of Spain's Getir company, said that all work strictly follows the standards of ordinary supermarkets and will not lead to traffic jams. He said: "It's very different from a ghost kitchen. "These companies are particularly proud that riders are delivering on bicycles or electric and eco-friendly motorcycles.

Gabriel went from freelancing to a full-time delivery driver, and he's happy with his current job. "Now I have to stick to the schedule, but get a bigger pay," he said. I know there are people who don't want to change because as freelancers they don't have to follow a schedule, can work as they wish, and can even turn down orders. ”

The 10-minute delivery business is growing at an alarming rate, and many foreign companies are already landing in the Spanish market, but a large piece of the cake in the Spanish domestic market is shared by two large companies: Getir company in Turkey and Gorillas in Germany.

Take Getir, for example, which started in Turkey in 2015 and became an industry giant in the country, valued at €6.6 billion. In 2021, the company began expanding into 9 other European countries. In order to enter the Spanish market, Getir acquired Barcelona-based start-up Block, which was founded just 6 months ago.

Today, Getier has 26 warehouses in Spain, 15 of which are in Madrid, currently employs 1,000 workers and expects to have 40 supermarkets by the end of the year. (Editor/Liu Lifei)

Source: Reference News Network