With inflation and rising utility prices putting pressure on both disposable consumer income and business margins, 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 products and services to boost their growth.

Unveiled in all 25 markets in which the brand operates, the initiative 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 manage their operations at point of sale (from data insights to providing supply chain solutions), and grow their businesses with marketing and advertising capabilities to help them reach new customers and increase their visibility.

Executive Director, Partners and Brands, Glovo, Rodrigo Alier, 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. We aim to have over 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. 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.

“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. 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.”