Colombia Jokr platform plans to expand to Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Jokr operates in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, the United States, Poland, Austria and Greece, and in April this year entered the Colombian market with plans to expand its presence in the home delivery segment.

Six months after its arrival in the Colombian capital, the platform entered the Paisa market and plans to expand its operations in Barranquilla and Bucaramanga before the end of the year.

“We are seeking to be the most popular option for consumers in Medellín, the second city where we will start operations in Colombia. The dynamic and receptive nature of the Paisa population is the reason why we have come here after such a short time operating in Latin America,” said co-founder Natalia Salcedo.

The brand is posting a 20% weekly increase in sales and to date has received more than 50,000 orders from different customers; however, the goal for 2021 is to reach 200,000 addresses in the country.

“We have grown much faster than we expected due to the recurrence of our customers. We started delivering products in Bogotá and we now cover from Modelia to Chía, but we still need the southern part and that is where we want to go; we also decided to expand and reach Medellín, where we will have warehouses in Laureles, Sabaneta, Envigado, El Poblado, La Mota, San Lucas and Itagüí,” said Jokr’s CEO Germán Peralta.

The brand’s international plans also include Argentina and Uruguay for this last quarter, and Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama for 2022.

The company’s business model is based on delivering the products kept in its more than 25 warehouses in Bogotá, the result of commercial agreements with over 200 national and international suppliers.

“Colombia is the third most important country for us in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico, that is why we have agreements with Alpina and Nutresa, as well as with smaller suppliers that provide homemade products such as brownies and handmade soaps. We want to be the world’s largest supermarket and we believe we are going to achieve it, as we offer a different shopping alternative,” he said.

According to Peralta, the company’s success in such a short time is based on three key factors to improve user experience, which include not charging for home delivery, which makes people order several times a week; delivering orders in an estimated time of 15 minutes or less; and providing employment with social benefits to its team, with prior training and uniforms.

“People no longer want to spend their time in a grocery line. We know that online shopping is still impractical because people have to wait for their groceries to be delivered the following day, and we want to give users their time back with this value proposition whereby if we deliver after the estimated time, we offer customers discount coupons,” the CEO explained.

In terms of employment, when the company opened in Bogotá in April, it only had 20 delivery drivers and currently has over 350 employees under contract, and just under 100 in Medellín, an aspect that Peralta highlighted as key to contributing to the country’s economic reactivation in the midst of the pandemic.

“The percentage of people working in technology businesses is increasingly larger and we have the responsibility to generate real employment, for instance, if we have a pregnant employee, she is covered by our contract. We know that collaborative economies are very good, but there are people who do not have access to health, pension and unemployment benefits, so we believe it is our mission to provide security to the people who work with us,” he said.

For now, Jokr is targeting a global retail market of over US$8 billion, of which only about 3% is currently online, an opportunity for the app available on iOS and Android.

Finally, the company offers electric motorcycles to its drivers and the goal is that 90% of the deliveries will be made using this means of transportation as part of its commitment to sustainability. In addition, the company does not use disposable plastics.

Jokr recently closed a US$170 million Series A financing round led by GGV Capital, Balderton Capital and Tiger Global Management.

The round was also joined by Activant Capital, Greycroft, Fabrice Grinda’s FJ Labs, as well as Latin American technology venture capital firms Kaszek and Monashees. “The investment will allow us to continue our expansion at an unprecedented pace,” said platform founder Ralf Wenzel.