Colruyt launches social shopping initiative

Belgian supermarket group Colruyt has announced a trial of “Collect & Go Connect”, a digital platform that makes it easier to do shopping for other people.

“Sharing economy”

The new initiative starts today and will be tested for six months in seven stores of proximity store chain Okay in Ghent and West Flanders. The project is Colruyt Group’s first initiative in the sharing economy.

“With this platform, we want to bring together two groups of people: those who want to be helped with their shopping, and those who want to earn a little extra by shopping for others in their neighbourhood”, project manager Tom De Prater explains in a press release. “We think that this is an interesting additional formula for families with children, people who are (temporarily) less mobile or busy people who do not always have room in their schedule for shopping.”

Additional groceries

The new service focuses primarily on smaller, additional groceries during the week, such as fresh vegetables, fruit and meat. “Collect & Go is not top of mind for that type of more frequent shopping. Our new Collect & Go Connect service offers a solution for this.” In that respect, cooperation with proximity supermarket chain OKay is only logical, De Prater says.

A new app was developed for the shopping platform, where both customers and messengers can register. Customers can make a shopping list and indicate where, when and for which compensation they would like to receive the shopping. Messengers can then choose whether they accept the list or not. The reimbursement is arranged via the Collect & Go Connect platform, which is also recognised within the sharing economy.