LatAm List – Oskar Hjertonsson, founder and CEO at Cornershop, recently posted the following Twitter thread about the hurdles the company faces while trying to meet the sudden surge in demand in the countries it operates due to COVID-19:
“Cornershop is proud to be working extra hard for the 3rd consecutive weekend to try to meet a sudden increase in demand for grocery delivery, although we’re struggling with being under-resourced.
Five months ago we announced a majority investment by Uber to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers and filed with COFECE for review. IFT claimed jurisdiction, so which entity will review the deal must be resolved first.
As of today, we have only 9 months of cash in the bank. I can’t help but feel frustrated and disappointed. At this time, our team and Shoppers are hamstrung in serving our customers.
In this difficult time, Cornershop teams and Shoppers in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Canada are working harder than ever to deliver groceries. Our nice-to-have service has suddenly become a must-have for many customers.
Instead of focusing on building a better company, we spend a lot of our time deciding which parts of our plan to cut or delay because of the regulatory uncertainty we find ourselves in.
As a result, we’re not hiring all the people we should be hiring, and we can’t work with Uber to help us increase capacity at a time when people need grocery delivery more than ever.
Our partnership with Uber will allow us to go global at a time when grocery delivery is needed everywhere. We are convinced that together with Uber, Cornershop will benefit consumers, Shoppers, and the economy in places where we operate.
I hope that we can get a swift decision so that we can focus 100% on our customers and on building the best possible Cornershop.”
