Lastorders.com re-launches into sector with 80% growth

The booming market, says analysts Datamonitor, will be the result of a predicted global growth in the sector of almost 80% annually. By 2005, the survey projects that the value of internet food and drinks purchases made in seven European nations plus the US will have reached $55 billion.

The figures are optimistic and point to a market open to opportunity. However, there have been several recent collapses in the US of on-line grocers, most notably Webvan and Peapod. The UK’s Tesco.com is generally thought to be the only on-line grocer currently turning a profit. This year it expects to post sales of more than £300 million.

Currently, the number of internet queries on food and drink exceeds actual orders placed by as much as 10 to 1. Just 1% of Datamonitor’s respondents in France, Germany, Italy and Spain had bought foodstuffs on-line in the past 12 months. Only in the UK and US did the figure exceed 1 in 20.

One Scottish on-line venture which hopes to exploit the opportunity provided by the on-line food and beverage industry and utilise the internet as a sales channel as opposed to a mere marketing tool is Lastorders.com which has just re-launched after its first attempt failed when investors withdrew their support.

Lastorders.com is hoping to learn from its mistakes and reap the profits of the apparently flourishing sector. Ian Gardiner, Lastorder’s CEO said, “First time round it took 10 months to get to this point, over a million pounds, 10 staff and an office in London. This time it took 3 months, a few thousand and 3 people. The site is better than the last one and we are profitable.”