Sursa foto: Rohlik Group
The Czech Rohlik Group will launch its online grocery delivery services under the new Sezamo brand in Romania and Italy in the first half of 2022, announcing Andrea Colombo as CEO for Sezamo Italia. From spring 2022, nearly 2.5 million households in Bucharest and Milan will have access to the Rohlik Group’s customer experience for the first time, with Italy set to be the second largest market after Germany.
The second half of 2022 sees the launch of Sezamo in Spain as well, with operations launched after market analysis showed an increase in customer demand for online grocery delivery services, and Rohlik’s online grocery delivery service will be active in 7 countries by 2022
The European online food delivery service delivered its first order seven years ago in Prague, Czech Republic and is already available in four countries, delivering hundreds of thousands of products to customers every day. On some days, deliveries can reach over a million everyday supermarket items, as well as locally sourced produce from small farmers and local producers.
On future expansion plans, Rohlik Group founder Tomáš Čupr says: “A few weeks ago we signed a contract with our first delivery centre in Spain. This means that we will soon be in Madrid, with more countries to follow. This is due to impressive growth in all our new markets, an example being Munich, where we recently passed the 1,000 orders per day mark in record time. Our business model based on supplying high quality global and local brands as well as local products is proving to be a repeated success. Coupled with a full service delivered in three hours or less, it’s proving to be exactly what families need, as seen in high shopping frequencies and order values. Simply put, customer focus equals financial health and a happier Europe! Of course, the old habits of going to the grocery store are hardly disappearing. That’s why what we build at Rohlik has to be not just “better than the traditional model” of shopping, but ten times better. As we look to the future, we want to continue to offer our partners around the world higher revenues, continue to provide our staff with exciting, flexible and well-paid work and, most importantly, offer our online customers the best possible food products as well as a positive delivery experience.”
In Romania and Italy, Sezamo will be able to deliver approximately 8,000 fresh, quality food products directly to customers’ homes within two hours in Romania and three hours in Italy, starting on day one. At the heart of the full range are fresh local produce such as fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, dairy and bakery products, alongside international brands as well as Rohlik’s own label products – in short, a better everyday alternative to supermarket shopping.
The local warehouse in Romania will have 10,000 sqm and is located in CT PARK – Bucharest North. It will cater for all the needs of traders and customers and will include temperature-controlled storage (freezing and chilling) for fresh fruit and vegetables, which will be delivered directly to consumers by local producers.
“The challenge for our launch plans was finding the right location for the delivery centre that would be accessible to both our customer delivery teams and suppliers. The next step on the list is recruiting and training teams, making sure that all staff appreciate how important our concern for customer service and our vision of eating and living well in Europe is. From the launch, the customer will be able to access the entire store so that they can cover their weekly basket” said Michael Kaiser, Chief Commercial Officer in Romania.
The European online grocery delivery service delivered its first order 7 years ago in Prague, Czech Republic and is already available in 4 countries, delivering hundreds of thousands of products to customers every day. On some days, deliveries can reach over a million everyday supermarket items, as well as locally sourced products from small farmers and local producers. The Rohlik Group’s goal of helping Europeans eat better and live happier lives will thus also reach Romania, Italy and Spain, and the group’s goal of becoming Europe’s leading online food retailer is one step closer.
“Having launched Rohlik Group operations in four countries under four different brand names, we will now enter these new markets under one brand: Sezamo,” reveals Rohlik Group Marketing Director Jakub Petřina, explaining: “All these countries speak languages of Latin origin, and we wanted to continue with a food-inspired word as a brand. Sesame seeds are popular in all cultures. The brand name – Sezamo – is based on ‘sesame’ in Italian, ‘susan’ in Romanian and ‘sésamo’ in Spanish. The Sezamo brand name is also related to the magical expression “Sesame, open!” from the fairy tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, just like the pod that opens when it is ripe and contains treasure. Of course, our brands Rohlik, Kifli, Gurkerl and Knuspr remain brands for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Germany. And along with Sezamo, they have plenty of treasures inside waiting to be discovered and delivered.”