"One of our objectives is to promote the use of less polluting packaging"
Glovo delivers any product in thousands of cities. Its technology connects customers with local businesses through a vast network of messengers. The project was born with the aim of transforming the way in which users obtain what they need, with the purpose of having a sustainable impact on the economy, society and the environment.
When was the company created and with what mission?
Glovo was born in 2015 in Barcelona with the ultimate goal of making cities more accessible through technology. And it started as a very simple app that told the user: "Ask for what you want and we'll fly it to you." At the beginning, we were a team of only 6 people who went out at night to deliver orders on their own bicycles. We soon realized that we could reach a greater number of people and innovate in the delivery sector. That's where we redoubled our ambition and the result has gone much, much further than we thought eight years ago.
What services do they offer?
With 8 years of operation in Spain, we have managed to become the reference app immediately. Currently, we connect users with all kinds of establishments from restaurants and supermarkets to electronics stores, florists, bakeries, parapharmacies, fashion, toy stores, among others. In short, our goal is to connect users with the infinite possibilities of their cities.
In addition, our 'Haute Cuisine' category, a section that groups high-profile gastronomic restaurants in the app, is available in 22 cities in the territory and has almost 200 gastronomic proposals. These include Dabiz Muñoz's GoXO, recently named Best Chef in the World for the second consecutive year, Carlos Maldonado's El Círculo, Ricardo Sanz's Kyoshi, Roberto Ruiz's MX RR and Javi Estevez's La Tasquería, the world's first specialized Michelin-starred restaurant. in offal
Do you have anything new planned for this year?
During this year we will continue working to add new stores and establishments and, ultimately, connect users with the infinite possibilities of their cities.
In how many countries is it present? In Spain, do you have national coverage?
We are present in 25 countries and more than 1.400 cities around the world. Nationwide, we are available in more than 400 cities and towns and we cover 80% of the territory. This is very important since Glovo is not only a reality in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville but also in municipalities such as Sitges, Cangas or Villajoyosa. So people value going to their summer resorts or their grandparents' house and can use Glovo as they do in their day to day.
How do you implement sustainability in your company?
In 2019 we created a specific department called "Impact and Sustainability", in charge of promoting projects with a positive impact on the environment. Once the team was formed, we analyzed all internal processes related to social and environmental impact and launched different initiatives.
Among them, the creation of Glovo Store stands out, an e-commerce with a wide variety of products to facilitate the daily management of restaurants and present in 16 countries. Through this project we have turned to our partners, the vast majority of which are small businesses, facilitating access to more than 600 non-polluting and innovative packaging solutions at affordable prices to encourage their use.
Thanks to the commitment shown by our associated restaurants, we have managed to use almost 2 M u. of sustainable packaging, made with bagasse, cardboard or wood, in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Georgia and Croatia during 2021.
In this way, our partners can progressively change their single-use containers for others made with biodegradable, compostable and recyclable materials. Among the different solutions, we bet on those that use fewer raw materials for their manufacture, while better preserving the properties of the food.
On the other hand, in 2020 we launched Glovo Access, an initiative that makes our technology available to social entities to facilitate access and distribution of food baskets to groups in vulnerable situations. Since its launch in 2020 and thanks to the collaboration of more than 80 entities, we have recovered 700 tons of food in Spain and more than 200.000 food baskets have been delivered to groups at risk of social exclusion.
In the 22 countries where this initiative is present, we have recovered more than 1.000 tons of food, which is equivalent to two million baskets of food, and more than half a million orders have been delivered for social purposes.
In short, at Glovo we are convinced that technology is capable of solving or minimizing many of society's problems
Urgent home orders generate higher levels of contamination than purchases in a physical store or shipments of two to five days. How can Glovo improve this situation?
Thanks to the latest transformation of e-commerce, cities have become more accessible and businesses have been able to develop new channels that complement their sales in the physical world. The product does not have to be moved, since it is in the store itself within the city and close to the end user, so that increasingly reduced delivery times are possible through technology.
In addition, thanks to the gradual transformation of the fleet of delivery vehicles into electric vehicles, ultra-fast deliveries are positioning themselves as more efficient and less polluting alternatives. In fact, at Glovo we have set ourselves the goal for 2030 that 67% of orders are delivered with non-polluting vehicles in the 25 countries in which we are present.
If the establishment with which you work does not provide you with the packaging, what type of packaging do you use?
As I mentioned, thanks to the launch of Glovo Store, we make more than 600 non-polluting and innovative packaging solutions available to our restaurants and establishments at affordable prices to encourage their use.
Our goal is for non-polluting packaging to be present in 25% of all orders made through Glovo in 2023. Since the launch of the Glovo Store, more than 2 million packages have already been sold in Spain and more than 3,5 million units globally.
Is it the case of customers who do not accept the order? What then happens to the product?
There are countless cases. For food orders, if the delivery person arrives at the delivery point and after ten minutes the user does not respond or is not at the indicated location, the delivery person will cancel the order due to "User absence".
For orders with a higher value, for example the purchase of a mobile phone or headphones, the team indicates to the delivery person a new location where he must leave the order and then forward it to its recipient.
What is Glovo's policy with delivery people? Why does he think he's often in the spotlight?
Glovo works thanks to the trust of establishments, users and distributors. It is important to us to offer the best possible experience with our platform to all of them and we put a lot of effort into it.
The new digital economy generates debate, not only in Spain but in many countries around the world. We believe that we must respond to the challenges that arise but without losing the opportunities that it offers us.
Why did you decide to join the Packaging Cluster?
One of our objectives as a company is to promote the use of less polluting packaging. To do this, in 2022 we decided to join the Packaging Cluster, one of the most important associations in the sector. After a year of collaboration we are very happy to renew our agreement. Both entities share a common objective: to promote and promote the use of containers and packaging made with biodegradable, compostable and recyclable materials.
What are your medium and long-term goals?
The main objective is to continue being relevant and a reference for the user in all categories, because with the arrival of more specialized competitors, we have to raise our level of service in each of them.
Now the user does not need to access different e-commerce since in a single app they already find the products they need in their day to day. In this way, from Glovo we are building virtual shopping centers, available at the click of your phone. We will continue working to become the reference multi-category application in Spain.
