Home ›› 17 Aug 2021 ›› Stock
Golden Harvest Agro Industries, a publicly traded frozen food manufacturing company, has officially launched its e-commerce platform – Golden Harvest Servus – with an aim to tap into the potentials of the online shopping sector.
Under the platform, its mobile app – Servus Foods – has been introduced to facilitate different services, including delivery of food and grocery along with ticket booking. Currently, it is fully focused on food delivery service.
The company disclosed the information before the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Monday.
Golden Harvest has invested Tk 5 crore to take hold of 45 per cent ownership of the e-commerce platform.
In March, the company announced stepping into the e-commerce sector in order to tap into the potentials of the sector that witnessed a massive boost amid the pandemic.
According to the Bangladesh Bank data, the transaction volume stood at Tk 1,277 crore in June, which was only Tk 491 crore over the same period of the previous year.
Before the pandemic, the average monthly transaction of e-commerce was around Tk 200 crore only.
Nirmal Chandra Sardar, company secretary of Golden Harvest, told The Business Post that the e-commerce business gained momentum in Bangladesh thanks to the pandemic.
“It would have taken more time to develop to the present state if the Covid-19 pandemic had not taken place,” he said.
Referring to the newly launched app, Sardar hoped that the venture would make services easier and beneficial for the general customers.
Talking to The Business Post, Abuzer Ghaffari, director (operations) of Golden Harvest Servus, said that a highly advanced e-commerce site was needed at a time when the restaurant businesses were suffering the most due to the pandemic.
“That is why, we have launched the e-commerce platform,” he added.
The android app has been made available on Google Play Store. It will also be available in the Apple Store soon.
Ghaffari also said that they have used the latest technology available to coordinate all three parties - sellers, buyers and delivery persons.
Apart from the reduced cost, the initiative will also ensure on-time food delivery.
“Thus, Golden Harvest will be able to outperform its competitors,” he hoped.
At the same time, he also disclosed that they will not take more than a 15 per cent commission from the restaurants during the pandemic, though a 20 per cent commission is the norm in the industry.
Highlighting the company’s presence in the country’s food market for more than two decades, he also expressed hopes that the company will be able to perform better than other food delivery e-commerce companies due to its longstanding experience and acquaintance in the sector.
Golden Harvest has been involved with various sectors in the country, including food, dairy, commodity, information technology, logistics, real estate, aviation, infrastructure development and insurance.
Golden Harvest Agro Industries was listed on the stock exchanges in 2013, and has been in the ‘A’ category by providing dividends regularly.
The company disbursed 7 per cent cash and 5 per cent stock dividend for FY19.
However, it witnessed a loss of Tk 18.56 crore in the first nine months (July-March) of FY21. In the same period of previous year, it reported a profit of Tk13.03 crore.
On Monday, the company’s share price declined 2.26 per cent to close at Tk 21.60.
