Businessman Sebas Bastian has invested $25 million in a new venture called Click Partners LP, which has acquired Aeropost from membership warehouse shopping company PriceSmart, promising to bring a new Amazon-like marketplace to The Bahamas and the region in the first quarter of 2022.
Aeropost is described as the largest online marketplace in the Caribbean and Central America, with 20 million products already available for purchase.
During a press conference yesterday at Aeropost’s Carmichael Road location, Bastian said a new e-commerce platform, that will be launched early next year, will improve the businesses of retailers in The Bahamas, who will use the Aeropost.com platform as their own online storefront.
Along with that online storefront, Aeropost will provide the ability to have products delivered to and stored in secure lockers called Clickbox at Esso gas stations across New Providence, where buyers can collect their purchases.
Aeropost will also open up shipping for those retailers to the 38 countries where Aeropost operates.
Bastian said local retailers cannot deny the trend of online shopping and cannot contend with retail giant Amazon without getting online. He said this new venture means local retailers will be able to sell and ship products abroad with ease.
Bastian said the timing of this venture “could not be better for our country”.
“If you follow the shift in consumer buying behavior, online shopping has become a dominant trend in The Bahamas and, in fact, one out of every three persons has made at least one purchase outside of the country in the last 90 days,” said Bastian.
“This means, now, more than ever, local retailers must make an aggressive shift online in order to remain competitive in this region.
“The biggest competitor to every local retailer is Amazon… today, it’s a new day where citizens across the entire archipelago will now have access to products that they want at affordable prices and the convenience of picking them up 24 hours per day at Esso locker locations.”
According to Bastian, local retailers will now have access to Aeropost’s online platform and logistics infrastructure, which he contends will allow them to remain competitive and respond to changes in buying trends. He added that Bahamians will also be able to purchase shares in Aeropost through Investar’s Titan investment fund, “which will allow investment opportunities for all Bahamians to own a piece of the pie”.
Bastian said the company has 700 employees throughout its global locations and, currently, 20, locally. The company is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
Bastian said he hopes his platform will stop the erosion of the domestic retail sector via companies like Amazon.
“We’re a marketplace where buyers and sellers meet,” he said.
He added that, on the platform, buyers will be able to copy hyperlinks into the website and get the fully landed price of the item they wish to purchase.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/aeropost-to-bring-an-amazon-like-marketplace-to-the-bahamas/
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