Finnish ecommerce platform Wolt has launched an update for its app. With the update, the company wants to take a step towards becoming a multi-category commerce platform. It gives retailers more opportunities to showcase their products to a wide audience.
Wolt was founded in Helsinki in 2014 and it a well-known flash delivery platform. It started out with dark stores, its own storage from where products were delivered quickly. Since 2021, it focused on delivering orders for restaurants and retailers. In 2023, the company expanded to Austria and Iceland. The company now is active in more than 30 markets, worldwide. The app relaunch is rolling out in all of its markets.
More than 20% of all orders on Wolt are in the retail sector
According to Wolt, it has processed more than 700 million orders in more than 30 countries in the last ten years. It has generated a cumulative sales volume of over 15 billion euros for local partners. Currently, more than 20 percent of all orders on the platform involve the retail sector. Orders are delivered to customers within 35 minutes.
From a store-oriented to product-oriented search
Instead of selecting a store first, users can now browse for products first. This allows them to compare products from several brands at the same time. The app now also groups results by topic. For example, when a customer searches for ‘protein’, they will be shown protein powder from drugstores, as well as protein bars from supermarkets and high-protein dishes from restaurants.
Increased reach for retailers
For online retailers, the update means that their products will be shown on more locations, instead of just their respective stores on Wolt. This increases reach and conversion rates. The new product-oriented structure also allows sellers to reach potential customers earlier in their decision-making process.
Transformation into comprehensive local commerce platform
With these changes, Wolt is continuing its transformation from a food delivery service to a comprehensive local commerce platform. “Since our offerings have long since expanded beyond the restaurant sector, we also had to further develop the user experience so that customers can order almost everything they need through Wolt in the future. Many people are not even aware that they can already find things like shampoo, pet food, toys, flowers, or gift items with us. This update changes that and ensures that discovering and shopping on Wolt becomes faster, more intuitive, and more personal”, explains Julia Niemann, Director of Product Management, Consumer Product at Wolt.
‘We are building the infrastructure for how people will interact with their city in the future’
“Our customers’ needs have always driven how we design Wolt. Local commerce is changing rapidly, and people want to browse and shop through different categories as easily as they order food. Our redesign makes this possible and simultaneously creates new opportunities for local businesses,” Niemann continues. “We are building the infrastructure for how people will interact with their city in the future.”
