A year after becoming transactional, is Le Panier bleu – without a general director since August – still relevant? While many retailers believe that the fundamental principles of the platform should be reviewed, the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, affirms that it still has its place, but believes that The Blue Basket could undergo adjustments if it becomes less useful for merchants.
“The Blue Basket is a tool. We will adjust. The day when [les détaillants] will say: “We don’t need the Blue Basket because we do it ourselves”, we will have won,” he declared following a speech given as part of the Hop! , event organized Thursday by the Quebec Retail Council (CQCD).
There, we see a lot of companies that organize themselves [en développant un site transactionnel]. Le Panier bleu has always wanted to be a complement.
Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy
Since August, the platform, created by the Legault government in the midst of a pandemic, has no longer had a general director following the departure of Alain Dumas. Currently, the interim is ensured by Sylvain Prudhomme, president of the board of directors. Asked about a possible successor, Mr. Fitzgibbon said there were “competent people around.” “We will adjust according to needs. »
While many companies have developed their transactional platform themselves, retailers believe that Le Panier bleu should review its mission. “I already have a transactional site. At some point, you have to choose your resources to get a return on investment, believes Vicky Scalia, co-founder of L’Interval shoe stores, also present at the event. I couldn’t say that this is the end of the Blue Basket, but we should review its mission, adds the woman who is at the head of a company with 16 stores across the country. In three years, we have evolved. Several merchants have developed their transactional site.
“We still invested a good amount of money in this. I would have liked to see a way to generate value for Quebec retailers. »
“A lot of work to do”
The new version of the site, which became transactional in October 2022, represented a total investment of $22 million. As an NPO, the site had received 4.4 million in subsidies from Quebec. Le Panier bleu now belongs to Plateforme Agora inc. This private company, founded in February 2021 according to the Quebec Business Registrar, is made up of minority shareholders, including Desjardins, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, the company Lightspeed, which specializes in e-commerce, and the government of Quebec. (Investissement Québec). There are around 400 merchants and 175,000 products there.
For Mathieu Hoste, president of Oleka, an interior decoration company, “The Blue Basket is not bad, it’s just that it’s not the magic button.”
“We could never live off the Blue Basket. We have one to three sales per week. It’s very, very low,” he adds.
We have free display, through a website which has a certain volume, a certain traffic. For a company, it is a plus, but it is not a source of income.
Mathieu Hoste, president of Oleka
“Honestly, all the retailers who are on Le Panier bleu hope that the consumer buys on their platform because the money goes directly into their pocket, there is no commission paid to Le Panier bleu,” estimates Mr. Hoste.
“I have a hard time understanding how it can become a must-have. There is a lot of work to be done. There is something to improve. I don’t see that this is the project of the century. »
Another craze for local purchasing?
Furthermore, Minister Fitzgibbon, who promoted the Produits du Québec certification recently adopted by a number of retailers, including BMR, SAIL, DeSerres and JC Perreault, recognizes that there is a certain waning of enthusiasm for local purchase. “We can perhaps say that there is less enthusiasm than during the pandemic. I think that Quebecers in general want to encourage locally, he added. It’s a more difficult time right now. We see pressure on consumers. I think it’s not gone. Maybe we just need to adjust it, revitalize it. »