More Canadians are buying their groceries online, signalling a market shift with a potentially broad impact on real estate, consumer behaviour and an already highly consolidated grocery market.
But he says competition from online retailers and double-digit growth in demand is pushing established supermarket chains to close physical outlets in favour of broadening their online reach. Gleizer conceived of the company in 2014 when he was balancing “16-hour days” with caring for his ailing father, meaning he had no time to purchase groceries himself.He says it highlights the two demographic factors driving the market — an aging population with less mobility and a young, overworked population wanting to “buy back time.”
CBRE, a Los Angeles-based real estate firm, estimates the U.S. will need another 100 million square feet of cold storage over the next five years. In Canada, the firm estimates that the amount of refrigerated warehouse space growth has grown 9.1 per cent since 2014 and says vacancy rates are near zero.
“We’re the only online grocery fulfilment centre in Western Canada,” he says. “Everyone else is using existing legacy assets, including their refrigeration.”