Mercadona launched its online shopping service in Madrid this Monday based on the "hives" model. This system already worked in Valencia and Barcelona and consists of distributing from a specific warehouse (and not from the store) called a hive. In the case of Madrid, it is located in Getafe.

Mercadona thus wants "to respond, in this exceptional situation, to the needs of society and its bosses (customers, in the jargon of the chain)". This new warehouse will be exclusively used to provide online service, to prepare orders that have been made online.

This warehouse, located in Getafe and in which 12 million euros have been invested, has a staff of 100 people, but it is expected to exceed 350 people. First it will provide services to the Retiro, Salamanca and Méndez Álvaro neighborhoods . In the coming weeks, as the start-up consolidates, the service will be expanded to new city postal codes , although there are no specific dates.

High demand

From the beginning of the confinement, Mercadona reinforced its online service in Valencia and Barcelona, ​​cities where it already has these hives and where there was a high demand for online orders, but temporarily suspended it in the rest of the populations as it could not meet the demand in conditions optimal.

Mercadona serves orders directly from the stores, except in the areas where it has hives, which are prepared directly in the warehouses. This system is considered more efficient and the idea is to take it to other cities in the country where the chain has more online orders.

The chain recalls that in this hive, as in all the chain's warehouses and stores, "all workers have all the means of protection indicated by the health authorities and prepare and distribute the maximum recommended precautions as much as possible."

"We have decided to launch the new online service in Madrid, despite the exceptional and delicate situation we are all going through, because now more than ever our customers are demanding it," said Juana Roig, general manager of the online purchase project for Mercadona.

30,000 homes

"We are aware that we will not be able to service all of Madrid's demand, but we will do our best to reach the largest number of customers as soon as possible. Our goal is to bring the purchase to 30,000 homes in the next month "he pointed out.

The online project in Madrid is the third hive that the company inaugurates, after Mercadona has a fleet of 50 gas vehicles that can transport up to 15 orders. This system based on the hives allows to optimize the preparation and distribution processes. By moving the preparation and shipment of orders to the hive, instead of managing them one by one from the stores, "productivity and efficiency are increased, guaranteeing better service."

This new model maintains the same rate as the previous service (7.21 euros per order) and extends the delivery hours from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. from Monday to Saturday in one-hour sections from the day after having made the order.

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  • Mercadona
  • Madrid
  • Barcelona
  • Valencia
  • Salamanca

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