Coruña, Spain-based GrupoGalinova is selling its wide range of seafood products via a new Internet service, making overnight deliveries to homes, shops and restaurants.
Crabs, shrimps, prawns, barnacles, clams, cockles and squid are among the species to be sold year-round, in addition to bass, turbot, hake and gilt-head bream.
Specializing in the transportation of perishable products within 24 hours, the company buys direct from auction in Vigo, Spain, to guarantee quality-certified freshness with minimal handling to trade, retail and foodservice customers throughout Spain.
Half of Spain’s demand for fresh seafood comes from restaurants and consumers in Madrid and Barcelona.
José Manuel Díaz, responsible for the company’s Internet operations, said the recession has adversely affected gilt-head bream sales particularly after Christmas, normally the species’ busiest sales period. But according to Group Manager Patricia Peña, the volume of customer demand, not the number of customers, has dropped. Unlike other companies, Peña claimed that Galinova was born with an online vocation to take Galician seafood outside its locality.
With 90 percent of its product originating from Galicia, “Almost everything we sell is outside the [Galician] community, and we have begun marketing in some European countries,” explained Peña.
Requiring no minimum order, online sales at www.grupogalinova.com are by credit card payment only with volume discounts available.
Commenting on Galinova’s move, Fernando Cividanes, manager at mariskito.com, said the potential for online seafood sales are “endless,” with the industry only now waking up to the opportunities.
