Jamaicans in the Diaspora can now shop for loved ones in Jamaica with the click of a button.
Jamaica’s Consul General to the Southern USA, Oliver Mair (center), and members of the GroceryList Ja team.Newly formed Jamaican-owned digital shopping platform, Grocery List, based in South Florida, brings grocery shopping closer to home.
GroceryList connects to 150 local stores in Jamaica, where Jamaicans in the Diaspora can order grocery items for their loved ones in Jamaica and have such grocery items delivered to their doorsteps within minutes of placing an order. The platform covers all 14 parishes in Jamaica.
In addition to the over 150 local stores, there are some 500 people in Jamaica who do the shopping and delivery. It also helps to Increase the revenues for local businesses, allowing them
to hire more people, as well as help Jamaicans, consume our healthy local products GroceryList Jamaica operates in the same manner as shopping on the Amazon platform for items.
Co-founder, Jermain Morgan said that he and his business partner were inspired to create the grocery shopping platform to deliver groceries in Jamaica because of the illness of his business
partner’s mother and her inability to physically go to the grocery store to make purchases.
“Now you don’t have to send money to loved ones in Jamaica for them to do grocery shopping.
By going to GroceryList you can place your order and our network of shoppers will make the purchases and deliver them to the recipients,” said Morgan.
To this end, GroceryList is not only connecting grocery shopping in Jamaica with the Diaspora but is also providing employment for Jamaicans in Jamaica, he said.
“We designed GroceryList Jamaica to help ease the economic burden on Jamaican households as
well as to empower Jamaicans to earn through creating an additional income stream,” said Rory Richards, Chief Executive Officer. A Jamaican who lives in South Florida, Richards explains that Grocery List Jamaica has been a labor of love.
“The idea was birthed after struggling to find a way to get the best food to my mother in Jamaica while she was ill instead of sending money.
Through that experience, I realized Jamaica needed GroceryList Ja. That’s when we decided to create this platform.
We live and work in the USA, so we know firsthand how the Jamaican diaspora helps their families back home. We also know the importance of the gig economy in providing supplemental income for individuals while building our country’s GDP.
GroceryList Ja allows us to solve both problems. It’s a new and exciting platform that was created for Jamaicans by Jamaicans,” he added.
The GroceryList Jamaica platform has completely digitized the end-to-end grocery operation and is set to revolutionize online grocery shopping throughout Jamaica and the diaspora. The platform powers e-commerce and fulfillment experiences for several retailers across Jamaica.
Jamaica’s Consul General to the Southern USA, Oliver Mair, lauded the concept and praised the innovation of the two young entrepreneurs. “Welcome GroceryList Jamaica! We are so happy to support young entrepreneurial dreams helping them become a reality. We are also excited about the prospects of more Jamaican jobs as the demand for local goods and services continues to grow” he added.
As for an even bigger picture and growth prospects for the GroceryList Ja team, CEO Rory Richards plans to also use the platform as a philanthropic tool to address food security and poverty alleviation throughout Jamaica by working with its global partners to get food into the hands of Jamaicans who need it most.