Q-commerce startup Asap preps expansion and app update

RTIH gets the lowdown on UK-based convenience delivery startup, Asap, from Co-founder Alexandra Journeau.

RTIH: Tell us about Asap

AJ: Asap delivers cravings, essentials, and occasions at home in minutes.

We offer a wide range of indulgences and make sure we have everyone’s favourite in one place, easy to order in seconds and at all times.

Asap is hassle free and you’re finally able to enjoy every moment.

RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?

AJ: I’m addicted to Diet Coke and RedBull Light, and I cannot stockpile them at home or my consumption skyrockets.

However, I still needed a couple of them to get through my working day and when lockdown started. I used to send Romain (Carrot, Co-founder) out to pick up my daily hit from our closest corner store.

Sadly, this store ended up closing following the first wave of the pandemic last year. At the time, we were working on another mobile app that aimed to fix the queuing problem in front of supermarkets, in order to be part of the pandemic war effort.

And it made us realise that we were looking at the wrong problem; the disruption opportunity among convenience was much more striking, so we designed a website, to test the market, in 48 hours and launched it during the same week.

It took off instantly and our first customer was actually ordering twice almost every day until we changed our delivery area in order to scale up our operations.

RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?

AJ: Wholesalers, mainstream and independent brands are super excited to have new distribution channels like ours, and we get a lot of partnership opportunities thanks to our branding and positioning.

More and more customers are also asking for us to cover new areas and we can’t wait to expand further.

“Usage patterns in retail are changing extremely fast, switching towards online, but mostly toward online-only players as opposed to omnichannel retailers.

The problem is that we’ve been waiting for this shift for years now and it is happening very suddenly, leaving traditional retailers quite unprepared to face and meet the new demand"

RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?

AJ: Definitely building the right product adapted to our customers' usage.

The ease of use is so important when it comes to convenience, and it is actually quite different than building interfaces for online groceries or on-demand traditional food delivery and marketplaces.

Customers need it to be extremely fast and straightforward, but also pleasant to browse and to get lost in for a couple of minutes.

The way they’re going to search for products is not something you can really predict, you can only come up with the best solution by iterating upon actual data.

That’s why, we’re very happy to release a completely new updated version this week, after months of A/B testing.

RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the omnichannel retail sector right now?

AJ: Usage patterns in retail are changing extremely fast, switching towards online, but mostly toward online-only players as opposed to traditional omnichannel retailers.

The problem is that we’ve been waiting for this shift for years now and it is happening very suddenly, leaving traditional retailers quite unprepared to face and meet the new demand.

Besides, those are huge businesses, very often with heavy operations, which make them much less agile to move at the same pace as customers' mood swings.

They have massive inventory to supply their physical stores, which operate in a radically different way than what online fulfilment requires.

Digital natives are setting the tone about what the new shopping experience should be like.

Physical stores are now expected to be more of a pop-up experience to discover new things, or used for Click & Collect, but the actual transactions are mostly going to happen online.

That’s a completely new norm and ultimately a new job that requires mastering a social media presence, strong brand positioning and a maximum focus on customer engagement.

It is not easy to have to work on all fronts as a multi-channel venture and reinvent yourself to keep up with the competition. On the bright side, it fuels the industry with some great energy and fresh ideas.

RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by an investor and/or a customer?

AJ: With investors, the best questions are usually the long-term oriented ones, i.e. how to win the game in the end, which is a fascinating topic, but quite serious.

Our clients on the other hand are much funnier; one recurring question is “do you hire?!” which is followed by great and genuine chats.

We met very cool people that way, from various backgrounds and with interesting stories.