How Prosus Is Planning To Expand ‘Dark Stores’ In Its Food Business
How Prosus Is Planning To Expand ‘Dark Stores’ In Its Food Business. Prosus NV, Europe’s largest consumer internet company, is planning to expand its grocery services using “dark stores” as competition booms in the global market for food delivery. “Additional dark stores — small warehouses located in busy markets that carry the most popular items — will make deliveries more efficient because they’re located closer to customers.” Prosus Chief Executive Officer Bob van Dijk told Bloomberg in an interview.
Grocery delivery took off during the pandemic as customers avoided crowded shops, and food-delivery companies, which already had logistics in place for restaurant orders, took advantage of the demand. According to Bloomberg, the concept is already being rolled out by portfolio companies including Delivery Hero SE, in which Prosus owns a 25% stake, and Brazil’s iFood. Amsterdam-based Prosus is also making investments in standalone grocery-delivery businesses, most recently in Berlin-based Flink.
“The most convenient way to operate dark stores is to own them and operate them,” Van Dijk told Bloomberg. “This way one knows where customers are, what the volumes are, and what people like to order. With instant delivery, Prosus already has the networks, technology and drivers that make the expansion into grocery deliveries an easy progression,” Van Dijk added. “Prosus has invested $6 billion in its food unit to date, and the business operates across 69 markets spanning from India to Brazil.”
Prosus is the international Internet assets division of South African multinational Naspers. The global investment group is the largest consumer Internet Company in Europe, and among the largest technology investors in the world, operating across a variety of platforms and geographies. Prosus acquired a portfolio of international Internet firms, including fintech, and food delivery systems. Products and service of its businesses and investments are used by more than 1.5 billion people in 89 markets.
On 11 September 2019, Prosus’s ordinary shares were listed on Euronext Amsterdam and, as a secondary inward-listing, on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Subsequent to its IPO, Prosus is majority owned by Naspers and is the largest consumer Internet company in Europe by asset value.
