Wolt’s app now allows users to order produce from supermarkets.
Wolt, a leading food delivery service out of Helsinki, is expanding its activities in Georgia.
Wolt has recently started delivering orders from the supermarkets and stores as well.
In an interview with Golden Brand, General Manager of Wolt in Georgia Natalia Khizanishvili promised that in the future Wolt will further expand food delivery service in the country and will offer a wider assortment of products.
Wolt entered Georgia in May 2018 and has been offering food delivery services in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi and the Black Sea resort town of Batumi. Soon Wolt will enter Kutaisi
“In the near future, Wolt will enter the two Georgian city Kutaisi”, she added.
Over 20,000 couriers every day deliver food from over 10,000 restaurants in 80 cities in 22 countries. Wolt serves more than 5 million customers.
Wolt received its first Golden Brand award this year for the success the company achieved in 2019. The company adapted easily to the Georgian market thanks to its experienced international team.
Wolt has recently raised €100 million in financing in preparation for a possible economic downturn after the coronavirus pandemic. The main reason for the newest round of funding is to make sure the company is around for its couriers, restaurants, merchants and employees for years to come. The company helps all its branches during the pandemic and the possible economic downturn, including in Georgia.
Natalia Khizanishvili answered a couple of our questions about how Wolt works in Georgia.
How have sales statistics increased in 2019?
Wolt is one of Europe’s fastest-growing technology companies. In March 2020, the Financial Times published its annual rating of Europe’s 1,000 fastest growing companies, in which Wolt took second place. In the category of technology, the company took first place. Obviously, Georgia is no exception, and in the Georgian market Wolt has been growing very fast.
Currently, Georgian customers are able to order food from more than 500 restaurants in Tbilisi and Batumi. In addition to restaurants, from April 2020, it has been possible to order food from supermarkets and other convenience stores with Wolt as well. Dozens of supermarkets are cooperating with us and this number will grow in the future.
About 90% of the Wolt customers order food using our application. Behind these numbers is the fact that Wolt’s app is convenient to use, which is being improved on the daily by a team of 100 developers at company headquarters.
Wolt serves thousands of customers every da,y and the number of orders has been increasing day after day.
Which are the most in demand restaurants and food in Georgia?
Fast food restaurants are in high demand in our country, along with Burgers, Georgian cuisine, pizza, shwarma, sushi – these are the most popular categories.
However, Woltstrives to provide a variety of choices for customers, so Wolt not only offers customers delivery from the most popular restaurants in the city, but also tries to find hidden gems, cafes and bars or bakeries to make the most extensive and interesting choices for customers.
In the emergency caused by Covid-19, in addition to restaurants, there is a great demand for fast grocery delivery.Wolt quickly reacted to the demand from customers, and now delivers groceries from dozens of supermarkets.
At what time of day does Wolt get the most orders?
We get most of the orders during lunchtime. The evenings and weekends are also particularly active.
How do you choose food facilities to establish cooperation? Do you follow customers’ requests?
Wolt has developed certain criteria that a restaurant must meet in order to be included in our system. We are actively in search of new restaurants and new offers. Often customers also suggest adding a restaurant. We try to satisfy their desire.
How affordable is it for the customers to order food with Wolt?
Ordering food using Wolt is quite affordable and food prices do not differ from the regular prices. Often restaurants have special offers and discounts for Wolt customers.
The price of delivery service varies between GEL 2.50- 4.5 depending on the distance from the restaurants. In some casesWolt even offers free delivery service options from different restaurants.
Could you please summarize the year 2019. What were the main challenges and achievements of that year?
The main challenge for 2019 was to deal with very rapid growth. We were able to go through a period of dynamic growth without compromising the quality of service and most importantly delivery speed. This was the most important task for us and required many human and analytical resources. As a result, we managed to become customers’ favorite brand and to be associated with high-quality service. We continue to work hard to delight our customers and be a good partner for our couriers, restaurants and merchants.
What can you say about the year 2020?
2020 has started with the difficult challenge of COVID-19. The state of emergency announced to avoid the spread of the coronavirus has changed our present activities as well as our future plans. Wolt and other delivery service companies were able to continue operations during the state of emergency. This situation has given great responsibility.
We needed to be able to work remotely not only to take the highest security measures but also to expand our operations. For example, we made all of our onboarding sessions for new couriers and restaurants virtual so that we would not gather many people together for longer periods of time.
Wolt was the first to introduce contactless delivery service. Given this situation, we decided to add delivery service from the supermarkets, and increased the number of partner couriers.
All of this has allowed us to adapt to changing environmental conditions in the shortest possible time, and we have been able to meet the growing demand for fast delivery service, not only for ready-to-eat foods but also for basic food items and other products.
The rest of the year remains uncertain – this is the first time that we’re going through first lockdowns, and now opening-ups. It’s difficult to predict how consumption of deliveries like ours will change as cities open up again. We’re cautiously hopeful that our customers continue to order on Wolt, and we continue to work hard to develop our service.
Congratulations on winning the Golden Brand award. In your opinion, why did experts name Wolt their favorite company?
Thank you, it’s a great honor. 2019 was crucial for Wolt. We started operations in Batumi, doubled the number of partner restaurants, implemented a number of large-scale promotional activities. As a result we have achieved very high growth rates, but at the same time we have been able to not only maintain but also improve the quality of food delivery and customer support services. There’s still plenty of work ahead, but we’re off to a good start.
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