Getir to leave France and Spain

Is the age of flash delivery companies really over? Turkish Getir, which made headlines by acquiring Gorillas last December, is leaving Spain and France, citing regulations and a lack of available funds.

Major blow

Getir has announced it will soon shut down its Spanish and French operations completely. In the former, as many as 1,500 jobs are to be axed. With high inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty, funding is drying up for flash delivery companies. Their promise of delivering groceries within minutes made them grow quickly during the pandemic, but now only a financial hangover remains. Getir’s purchase of German rival Gorillas, for instance, was already at a 50 % discount.

Getir itself also turned out to post more losses than it had (net) sales: the flash delivery company posted a turnover of 440 million euros and a loss of 500 million.

Today, the group still operates in seven countries, but by the end of this month Getir will also leave France. There, new regulations are cited as the main cause: since 1 July, it has been even more difficult to get licences for “dark stores” (delivery warehouse) in French city centres. Competitor Flink also left France last month.