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For four years, in addition to using Instagram to post photos or snoop stories, Zuleima uses this network as a "clandestine" supermarket through which to ensure that his mother in Caracas can eat chicken or eggs every fifteen days. And it is not the only one. The possibility of making the purchase through direct messages from Instagram or WhatsApp has become an effective formula for expatriates who want to make sure that their relatives in Venezuela receive basic food.
"The best way to schedule the purchase of your relatives in Venezuela from abroad," they say from @buendelivery on their Instagram page, where they accumulate almost 23,000 users . 'Offices throughout the national territory', announce in @pidapollodelivery, with more than 36,000 followers . These are just two of the still lifes that can be found on Instagram and that are aimed at Venezuelans outside their country. "Normally I sent the money, but in my groups of Venezuelan friends in Spain began to comment on the existence of these pages on Instagram, and I decided to try. I preferred that my mother received the purchase at home and not that I had to wait for days in a super for a dozen eggs. "
Online food sales profiles began to proliferate five years ago when making purchases in Venezuela meant spending hours and hours in a queue because of shortages in the country. "At that time Venezuela was going through a more complicated situation than it is happening now, especially to get certain merchandise. The long lines were somewhat catastrophic because, in addition, political issues come together with armed groups in which I will not go deeper, but they were in charge of keeping a check or an order in the queues and asking you for a payment. Everything outside the law. Also, I had a local and suffered several robberies, so to work comfortably I decided to close it and work behind closed doors. , with a customer who prefers peace of mind. It is to expand the vision to a more European or American business: buying online without having to go to a supermarket, "explains Kervyn Castillo , founder of Pidapollo Delivery.
Castillo chose to start promoting himself on Instagram by considering the social network a powerful platform "where users are always connected, either to watch news or to learn about the world of entertainment. I also considered the idea of working through a web But here there is a lot of lack of control regarding the issue of prices, with a galloping inflation. Working with a website would be to change prices constantly, unless you work with super-high prices, and it is not my intention. customers with prices similar to those of a physical space ".
To make the purchase through Pidapollo or any of the other delivery pages in Venezuela that are advertised on Instagram, it is necessary to contact them by direct message on the social network or through WhatsApp. In the case of the Kervin company, he himself is in charge of sending the buyer a total of 13 photos in which a list is shown with all the products and their updated price: butcher shop, fish shop, delicatessen, fruit shop and even Asian products, They can be found in this super social where you can pay in euros, bolivars or dollars through money orders, PayPal or Zelle, among other options.
"The client assembles the order with my help, I pass the total price and tell him how to pay. Once they have made the payment they send me the receipt, I verify it and pass the command to my workers so that the order is organized and be delivered. I go to all parts of Venezuela, I even have a client who lives in Madrid and asks for the purchase for a relative in Margarita, which is an island. No problem, we also take care of everything, without intermediaries, "he says.
According to the head of Pidapollo, his main clients are the United States and Europe, although he receives orders from many other places such as Australia or Dubai. "It is a totally legal business. There are many businesses that have even been in Venezuela for more than 50 years and have now decided to start advertising on Instagram so that the user knows what they are selling. This is legal. The only problem we Venezuelans have now is to keep prices, because of the strong inflation there is. "
The option of home shopping has been established as the best option for expatriate relatives or friends to ensure their supplies, although many of these portals on Instagram have resulted in websites where you can make the purchase from both inside as outside the country. According to Luis Carlos Díaz , a Venezuelan journalist based in Caracas, "it is also a good option for residents, because it allows you to know the price of things without leaving home, although it is focused only for wealthy families. In a hyperinflationary environment, tour local it wears and generates a lot of uncertainty, and it is also a very good option for those merchants who no longer have a physical space to offer their products.In Venezuela there are many stores that have been taken by the State, sometimes they are extorted by those who collect taxes or for criminal gangs that charge you for not stealing. And in this black market, online shopping gives people certain that there is a product and that there is a better deal if there is home delivery.
A carton of eggs, two salaries
The use of these platforms does not solve the problem of high prices, hence they are a tool used primarily by family and friends who buy from outside the country. According to the list provided by Pidapollo, an egg carton costs 4.5 euros per change ( 360,000 bolivars ). The minimum wage in Venezuela increased by 66.6% at the beginning of the year to 250,000 bolivars per month (3.15 euros).
"Is it easy to buy milk or eggs? If you had asked me this question from 2011 to 2018, I would have said no. Fresh milk was not sold and eggs were complicated to acquire since 2012, when a vice president set the cardboard as a third of what it really cost and bankrupt egg producers. But this year you can go to any supermarket to buy these eggs or milk and there is, yes, with an asterisk, because there is for the 10% of the population that can afford it, currently a liter of milk costs 100,000 bolivars and a pensioner earns 250,000, reaches 2 and a half liters per month and could not spend on anything else.A carton of eggs costs almost two months of salary minimum or pension. The state broke the industry and now the little it is producing, it will do so for 10% of the population. Only those who charge in dollars, who receive remittances or who generate currencies in another way can live with dignity " e the journalist explains.
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