Receive your groceries less than ten minutes after ordering them.

It seems impossible and yet, more and more companies are embarking on "quick commerce".

Like Flink, a new delivery service that is gradually making its way into the streets of Paris. 

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"I went shopping but forgot a few things. Rather than come back downstairs while I was cooking and had no time, I ordered. And I knew it. was going to happen very quickly, ”explains Benjamin.

Sure enough, seven minutes later, Youssef rings the bell.

In his backpack, desserts and cat food.

More protected employees

Youssef works for Flink, a 2.0 bicycle delivery service.

Entirely dressed in pink, it carries everyday groceries, often 7 days a week and at an unbeatable speed: ten to fifteen minutes after ordering.

The German company Flink is part of "quick commerce", a whole new market born during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Before Flink, the young man was already a bicycle delivery man.

He has the habit.

But this time, he is salaried and more protected.

"With the other applications, we walk outside in the rain and it's really hard. With Flink, we go back to the store as soon as the race is over," explains Youssef.

"It's more comfortable."

The store, or "dark store", is where the orders are prepared.

A sort of supermarket without cash registers and without customers.

A multitude of "stores" throughout Paris

And if deliveries are so fast, it is thanks to Flink's geographic and real estate strategy.

The delivery areas are "limited", assures Charles d'Harambure, the company's general manager for France.

"It is not our couriers who pedal particularly fast. It is simply that every Parisian lives less than 10 minutes by bike from a Flink store," he explains.

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In order to keep the promise, the group plans to open fifty new stores in the Paris region and in the largest French cities in the coming months.