Growth & Jobs | Florida-based online shopping platform expands locally

Grocery List Jamaica, a Florida-based online shopping platform, has announced the opening of its Jamaican subsidiary, Grocery List Jamaica Limited.

The new Jamaica-based company was incorporated this month and began operation almost immediately.

In a release, co-founder Rory Richards outlined the benefits of the expansion, noting that the opening of Grocery List Jamaica Limited will allow the online company to better serve its local clients, as well as see to the welfare of the many Jamaicans who work for the company in Jamaica.

Grocery List Jamaica Limited is now affiliated with a local bank through which all Jamaican employees will be paid. Further, Richards said, it will allow the company to expand the Jamaican gig economy, as more persons will be able to sign on as shoppers and delivery personnel. This, he explained, will allow for faster and better service to clients in Jamaica whose relatives shop for grocery on the platform.

He further suggested that it will also allow the company to pay taxes to the Jamaican Government, thus contributing to the expansion of the economy.“We designed Grocery List Jamaica to help ease the economic burden on Jamaican households, as well as (to) empower Jamaicans to earn through creating an additional income stream,” said Richards, who is also chief executive officer.

JOBS IN OTHER SECTORS

He was recently in Jamaica, where he held talks with a number of prominent individuals, including Agriculture Minister Pearnel Charles Jr; Senator Aubyn Hill, minister of commerce; representatives of JAMPRO, JMMB and others in the financial sector.

During his meetings with Ministers Charles and Hill, among the topics discussed were the fact that every order placed on the platform provides two jobs through the gig economy system: the in-store shopper and the delivery personnel.

Grocery List connects to 150 local stores in Jamaica, where Jamaicans in the diaspora may order grocery items for their loved ones in Jamaica and have the items delivered to their doorsteps within minutes of placing an order. The platform covers all 14 parishes and operates in the same manner as shopping for items on the Amazon platform.

In addition to the over 150 local stores, there are some 500 persons in Jamaica who do the shopping and delivery.

Co-founder Jermain Morgan explained that the idea of the grocery shopping platform was inspired by the experience of his business partner’s mother falling ill and being unable to physically go to the grocery store to make her own purchases.

Persons may visit Grocery List shoppers to place their orders, who will make the purchases and deliver them to the recipients.

As the company spreads its wings, the provision of jobs in other sectors, such as marketing, customer care, tech support, data centre, call centre, and the farming sector will be provided on a large scale. With the company looking to launch in five other countries in 2023 , Jamaica will remain the headquarters for its call centre activities that serve the English-speaking countries on its platform, the release noted.