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More than 20%

Increased online market share (to about 60%) 

220 items pr/hour

Average in-store picking rate. The fastest pickers reach 350 

Increased

Total spend among omnichannel customers 

1100

Online orders per week 

Alphamega Hypermarkets: Delivering groceries across Cyprus using StrongPoint technology

Cyprus’ biggest retailer have completely captured the online grocery market share in the country with StrongPoint’s solutions. Using our best-in-class order picking solution they average 220 items per hour and have increased the spend of omnichannel customers. 

About AlphaMega Cyprus 

The evolution of grocery e-commerce in Cyprus

As everywhere else, Cyprus experienced a huge increase in demand for e-groceries during the pandemic. The grocery retailers were not prepared. As a result, most of them teamed up with delivery platforms/services (Q-commerce players) as they didn’t have time to set up an e-commerce order fulfillment solution first.  

While this is simple to get started with, the picking of orders can be very inefficient and the customer journey is out of the control of grocery stores.  

AlphaMega is the leading retailer in Cyprus and had researched e-commerce order fulfilment solutions and decided to go for StrongPoint’s solutions before the pandemic. The company opened its e-commerce offering just a few months before the pandemic.

“We considered several providers but were really convinced by StrongPoint. They have a complete solution for us that has already been tried, tested and improved for years. We wanted to take advantage of StrongPoint’s experience and competence, so we avoid making the mistakes that others already have made.”

Andreas Demetriou, CIO of AlphaMega Cyprus.
Andreas Demetriou, CIO of AlphaMega Cyprus.

A complete and efficient order fulfillment solution

AlphaMega invested in StrongPoint’s world-class order picking solution, along with the home delivery system and the software platform to organize and control the process. The online orders are picked using StrongPoint’s solution both in-store and in a fulfillment center (dark store) in the same building, and then they are loaded into trucks and delivered to customers using StrongPoint’s home delivery system. Thanks to StrongPoint’s software every part is connected, and the picking order is calculated based on the optimized delivery route provided by the home delivery system. 

AlphaMega operates with next-day delivery and picks most for the orders in the afternoon the day before. The exception is fruits and vegetables which are always picked early in the morning before the orders are driven out to customers to ensure maximum freshness. 

AlphaMega delivery van

The results 

The results with this set-up, has been at hyper-efficient process allowing AlphaMega to deliver groceries to the entire country, with a profit. Despite not increasing prices or reducing assortment compared to in-store. The only difference in price is a small delivery fee. 

“StrongPoint has helped us simplify and eliminate headaches regarding the grocery e-commerce. We have a good integrated solution for picking, assembly and delivery, and they have helped us every step of the way with their experience”. We are picking orders faster than I would have believed physically possible with manual picking”, says Andreas (average of 220 items per hour). 

AlphaMega is now working with 1100 online orders in a typical week and have captured a solid 60% of the online grocery market share in the country. They could have delivered more than 1100 orders in a week if not for limited capacity with refrigerated trucks for home delivery. 

Alphamega pickers

Additional benefits 

The importance of meeting the more or less global demand for online groceries can hardly be overstated, and the benefits are bigger than one might first consider. 

“We see a clear trend with e-commerce stickiness in the market. Moreover, the basket sizes for the online orders are 3,5 times bigger than for in-store purchases. We also see that customers shopping both online and in-store have increased their spend”, says Andreas.  

The road forward

Andreas is clear on how important e-commerce is going forward and that they seek to fortify their position as the number one retailer in Cyprus by continuing to improve their online offering. 

“We are planning to invest in one of StrongPoint’s click & collect solutions in the near future. We are currently discussing whether it will be a drive thru or grocery locker set-up. We see many advantages for both us and the customers with adding pick-up as an option.”

Andreas Demetriou, CIO of AlphaMega Cyprus.

When asked if he would recommend StrongPoint as a partner, Andreas said the following: 

Not to our competitors! But to everyone else, 100%. StrongPoint has really been a differentiator for us and helped us hit the ground running with grocery e-commerce“.