eMAG, the largest online retailer in Romania, and Mega Image, one of the largest local supermarket chains, launched a joint online supermarket, on Tuesday, August 26.

The site is already operational on the eMAG.ro platform where customers can order food, home care and personal care products that are also available in Mega Image traditional supermarkets.

Customers have two options for the orders they place on the platform: they can have the products delivered at home in 24 hours or they can personally pick up their orders from several Mega Image supermarkets. The personal pick up, however, is only available in Bucharest and only in over 30 selected Mega Image units, and not in the whole network.

Nonperishable products can be delivered at home in Bucharest, but also across the whole country. These include grocery and bakery products, beverages and tobacco, personal care and home care products, but also BIO and ECO food products.

For fresh products, such as fruits and vegetables, dairy and meat products, home delivery is currently available only in District 6, in the Western area of Bucharest, where Mega Image runs a warehouse. For the rest of Bucharest, these products are only available for personal pick up. However, eMAG says it will extend the home delivery service for these products for other areas as well.

Home delivery is free for orders of more than RON 300 (EUR 68) and orders can be placed 24 hour a day. Over 7,500 products are available in the online supermarket. The prices are set by Mega Image.

eMAG andMega Image have been working on this project for the last one and a half years, with eMAG providing the software platform and an internal courier team for deliveries, and Mega Image building a warehouse in the Western part of Bucharest, Violeta Luca, executive manager of eMAG, told Ziarul Financiar.

eMAG, which is controlled by South-African investment fund Naspers, is the largest online retailer in Romania. The company’s revenues were EUR 187 million last year, and for this year eMAG targets a 40% increase in sales. It started as an IT&C and electronics retailer, but in recent years it added new product lines to its offer, such as car parts, toys, books, cosmetics and do-it-yourself products.

By launching this supermarket, eMAG taps into the food retail market, which is estimated at EUR 16 to 18 billion a year in Romania. Online food retail is still very low compared to other consumer markets.

Mega Image, part of Belgian group Delhaize, has over 330 supermarkets in Romania, most of them in Bucharest and in neighboring areas, and recorded sales of EUR 530 million in 2013. By launching this online supermarket with eMAG, Mega Image joins other local retailers such as Carrefour, Cora, Metro and Selgros, which already have online platforms.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com