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Please, the local economy booster that relies on the human
Other innovations 13/06/2019

Please, the local economy booster that relies on the human

Since its creation in 2016 and a move along the Seine in the premises of Ineo Digital, it was time to take news of Please, this example of "phygital" business, which allows the "physical" world (here we're talking about shops and restaurants of small and medium-sized cities) to easily access the digital world. The Please platform references local businesses, manages individual orders, deliveries and payments for all players.Please innovates by deploying its platform as trademark concessions. This decentralized approach is disrupting current models by offering local entrepreneurs the opportunity to create new local businesses in a circular economy approach throughout France. David Denis, Please's CEO tells us more.

David, what's up with Please?

We have two very beautiful news to share! Starting with a growth of about 15% per month of the orders on the platform. In 2018, we had 1 million euros orders over the year. In 2019, we exceeded this figure in April! We have gone from 5,000 to more than 50,000 customers and from 1,000 to more than 10,000 orders per month. We have thus proved the scalability potential of our solution! Our goal for the end of 2019 is one million euros of monthly orders.

We are now deployed in more than one hundred cities, delivering about 2 million people, and our second scoop is precisely that we just opened the island of La Reunion 3 weeks ago! In 3 weeks we have already attracted more than 3000 customers in Saint-Denis and every day brings us new customers all over the island.



What are the success factors for Please?

I would first say the dynamics of a team of 22 people motivated, responsible, where everyone goes in the same direction and in a good mood! Everything started thanks to the intrapreneurship process at ENGIE, with 3 ENGIE employees and 3 former startupers. We then recruited the skills we needed as we went.

Secondly, our original positioning: our marketing strategy was to start with the delivery of restaurants in order to attract a flow of orders and customers very quickly. We then offered these customers other types of goods: bakeries, greengrocers, butchers, then services (especially pressing) and since April local and / or organic producers. This is a service we launched in Le Havre and Pau, with the promise: ordered before noon, picked in the afternoon, delivered at night!

In the city of Mantes la Jolie, we have even begun to integrate the bookstore, with the promise to deliver the "month's books" the same day. We rely on both proximity and loyalty, thanks to our loyalty program, which earns points that can be used throughout our offer as well as in stores.

Our goal is that the Please application becomes the application of my city or my neighborhood. We are constantly integrating new worlds such as well-being, florists, or pharmacy for which we are working to solve the issues related to a strict legal framework.


A collaborative delivery system and an app that manages the entire process

Depending on the type of business, we offer two modes of delivery: immediate or on tours.

The delivery rounds take place in the morning and / or evening, just like the dairy tours in Britain or bread in the countryside. Our particularity is to deliver beyond the closing time of shops, 9pm or 10pm for example. We gather the products before the shops closz and store them securely.

For catering, deliveries are of course immediate, when the restaurant is open.

The delivery system is very collaborative: the shopkeepers can deliver themselves, which allows them to earn money from the delivery, deliver for other shops as well and get paid for this service. Our local partner or his employees also deliver or work with freelancers. For the customer, the process is both very simple and transparent. He does not necessarily know by whom he will be delivered, but he knows it will be at the time he chose! The quality of the delivery service is a priority for Please and our partners

Another strength of the platform is to manage all bank transfers in an automated way: every order implies 5 stakeholders: the customer, the merchant, our local partner, the delivery person, and of course, Please. For each order automatic billing are generated by the platform between all stakeholders. More than 10,000 orders per month means more than 50,000 different transactions!

We also integrated a marketing automation module: using the data provided by the end user and his tracking data we are able to offer him information or targeted promotions, for example the launch of local production goods for a consumer who buys organic products.

The platform knows how to manage different time or taxation zones, as in La Réunion, which now allows us to optimize the use of the platform at different times and proves both the solidity and the maturity of our solution: we are now ready for the international!


Please values: local, proximity, human, made in France, local economy booster


Source: christine leroy

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