Derrimon targets high-density areas with online shopping
TARGETING PORTMORE in St Catherine or more online shopping traffic, Derrimon Trading Company Limited subsidiary Sampars is offering that community free delivery of groceries on set days. The company has spent what was described as “several thousand US dollars” to revamp the online shopping site – www.shopsampars.com – also improving the offering with a chef preparing meals and a personal shopper.
Derrick Cotterell, chairman and CEO, told Sunday Business: “We have updated our site and other technology to make the shopping experience more seamless. We have improved the infrastructure by using our full network to facilitate faster and efficient deliveries. We have also increased our staff count, which is dedicated to the back office, logistics, and warehousing. Our delivery fleet now includes vehicles and team members ready to serve.”
The company is targeting, especially, locations with population density and offering a 15 per cent discount on groceries to college students, free delivery between certain hours every morning and evening, and free sample products as long as stocks last. The discount is accessed with a code issued online.
The Portmore community, which is also being wooed, has a residential population of over a quarter of a millionpersons, many living in close proximity; a density expected to increase as more homes are constructed and occupied in the area.
Derrimon Trading has expanded its offerings from children’s books to packing barrels, also offering Jamaicans living abroad the option of packing food barrels for relatives in Jamaica and having them delivered to their door.
Cotterel said about the new features: “Our VIP customers have full access to a personal shopper. This requires our customers to upload their grocery list or shopping receipt, and a shopper will add items to their cart and send a notification for payment.”
For those who want ready-to-eat meals, he said: “We have a new section that highlights the chef in us. Thirty-minute meals, eating healthy. Once you access this section, there will be several meal options with the ingredients of that meal, and customers can simply add it to their cart.”
Sampars has also added “a ‘tawk chat’ on our website that gives youaccess to customer care 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.”, the group CEO outlined.
Sampars now has eight physical outlets in St Ann, Manchester, St Catherine, and Kingston. The company added distribution deals with more products in warehouses and in stores. The group, for Sampars, has also been looking at opportunities within CARICOM and extra-regionally.
Derrimon Trading, for the year ended December 31, 2022, posted consolidated total assets of $15.37 billion, which represents a 33.57 per cent or $3.86 billion growth over the $11.51 billion reported for the similar period ending December 31, 2021.
The company posted net profit of $617.63 million, a $169.45 million or 37.81 per cent increase over the 2021 reporting period.
This was made on revenue of $18.42 billion, a $0.675 billion or 3.81 per cent increase over the 2021 reporting period.
In the reporting period, the group saw completion of the new Select Grocers Supermarket at the Millennium Mall in May Pen, Clarendon; completion of the acquisition of Spicy Hill Farms Limited; the buildout and retrofitting with equipment of a new factory in Kingston; and full takeover of operations at Arosa on April 1, 2022.
The company implemented a new retail technology platform – Microsoft LS Retail – in the new Select Grocers supermarket and further rolled it out in all the retail stores.
On the cost of the shopsampars revamp, Cotterell said it spent “several thousand US dollars to bolster the infrastructure to bolster our omni channel retail strategy, linking our digital and retail footprint”.
Investments add to spend in several new acquisitions, including the new Select location in May Pen, Arosa Limited, and Spicy Hill Farms, all done after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also in COVID that Derrimon acquired Good Food for Less and Food Savers New York.
Cotterel commented: “We continue to look for new investments both in Jamaica and overseas as well as the consideration of expansion of our Sampars retail brand, ” adding, “We have put in the requisite plans in order to finance our operations in 2023.”