Watermelons and colored peaches, inviting grapes, freshly picked salads and tomatoes, and tempting apples: these are increasingly common images that wholesalers and, more generally, fruit and vegetable merchants “show off” on WhatsApp status to display their goods to customers through photos and short videos. This has become a real 2.0 agora that serves as both a showcase and a sales platform.
“WhatsApp contributes at least 50% to daily sales and therefore to my annual turnover,” says Salvatore Musso, a wholesaler from Masterfruit in Milan. “It must be said that this tool has become commonly used in our environment in recent years, especially for companies that mainly deal with import-export and distribution. The other 50% still happens in a traditional way, by displaying the product and opening direct negotiations with the customer. The trend is certainly to use this social media more and more, which, due to its ability to create groups of customers or suppliers, encourages its use.”
“WhatsApp is as valuable as a showcase, in a specific space aimed at those interested in your goods… Quantifying its value, like all intangible things, is not simple, but it is a tool that is certainly valuable,” considers another Milanese wholesaler, Umberto Musso of Italfrutta.
“With WhatsApp, I place orders or receive them, while with Instagram I also do promotions,” expands the social media scope, Marco Marrapese, a wholesaler from Verona who mainly sells abroad, with the decisive contribution of what can be seen on the mobile phone.
Not everyone uses WhatsApp in the same way: “Today you communicate a lot with WhatsApp because it’s fast and you respond as soon as you can or want… I don’t know if it’s for promotion… Personally, for example, I don’t accept chats, they become, in my opinion, distracting,” emphasizes Roberto Donà from 3Frutti in Padua.
Giuliano Giliotti, an operator at the Catanzaro Market, explains: “WhatsApp is very useful for seeing the goods, understanding the quality and size of the product, bridging distances, and realizing in advance what has been ordered. Its usefulness? On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it at least a 7.5.”
The present and future of the fruit and vegetable trade also pass through here.
