Another hard blow for the “quick trade” sector. Getir, the giant of express home shopping delivery, has announced that it is leaving France a few days after Flink. Nearly 1,800 employees are in uncertainty.
“The complex legal environment and regulations imposed by local governments have made it very difficult for the business to succeed,” Getir, who also owns Gorillas and Frichti, said in a statement to AFP on Wednesday. The same argument was put forward in early June by its competitor Flink, which announced that it was throwing in the towel in France for the same reasons. The Getir France group, a subsidiary of the Turkish giant Getir, established itself on national territory in 2021 and is now looking for a buyer.
The “quick trade”, which offers the delivery of everyday products in a few minutes by a delivery man on a bicycle or electric scooter, has been the subject of strong criticism from local residents and elected officials, who denounced pell-mell nuisances, arrival of “warehouse towns” or even the development of a “lazy economy”.
900 job cuts to come
In March, the government inflicted a final snub on them, decreeing that the “dark stores” (the downtown premises where products for delivery are stored) were warehouses, and not businesses, opening the way to regulation by the town halls of this activity. These premises could be forced to close if the local urban plan (PLU) prohibits this type of activity at their address.
Despite these bankruptcies, the “quick trade” will not disappear. This market, still “modest, continues to grow and could reach a turnover of 438 million euros in 2030, according to MP Maud Gatel, co-author of a report on “quick trade”. After being placed in receivership at the end of March, Getir announced that it was considering the elimination of 900 jobs on the national territory on the three brands (Getir, Gorillas and Frichti).
The announcement of the departure from France is “brutal and disrespectful for these employees who have nourished so much hope in the possibility of the future of the company”, declared to AFP Johann Tchissambou, CFDT union representative.