Puratos bakery and confectionery group is launching www.bakeronline.ro in Romania as well, after a success model in Belgium. It’s the first online platform in Romania that will allow bakers, pastry chefs, confectioners and chocolate makers to transfer their businesses online, free of any charge.
The online platform is lending a helping hand to these producers, whose stores or labs have been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the more the baking and confectionery industry is lowly digitized although it provides essential products for the consumers around the world.
Bakeronline.ro enables entrepreneurs to set up online stores, quickly (in 72 hours) and free of any charge, and be in contact with their clients and to sell their products while observing the social distancing rules.
By the end of this year, the platform aims to gather a community of over 100 producers who will set up online stores, and to generate sales of at least RON 1 million.
The initial investment in the platform is mounting to over EUR 30,000.
“It is definitely a project in which we’ve invested and we will continue to invest, not only this year. A long term commitment is needed in order to endorse the industry to adjust to the <new normality>,” said Gabriela Bereș, Regional Manager, Central and Eastern Europe Puratos.
The platform will enable entrepreneurs to plan and manage their stocks, while reducing losses at the same time, so each producer will be able to manage its orders easier and also to react to the fluctuating demand. The SMEs that join the platform also benefit of information on how an online store is managed, but also of marketing and promotion tools.
All those who are joining the platform until August 31 have no operation costs. After this date, the costs with the online store will mount to RON 200 per month.
There are currently five local and national bakery businesses from Bucharest, Brasov, Baia Mare, Cluj-Napoca and Craiova that have signed up.