Spanish retailer Eroski has launched the Azoka internet store to offer small producers in the Basque Country the possibility to sell a wide variety of fresh and processed products.
The retailer aims to promote a highly diversified local agri-food production network, believing it to be a key element for the sustainability of the sector.
Eroski Azoka
Eroski Azoka is a website independent from eroski.es, but accessible from its home page and allows the use of the retailer's loyalty card.
The customer can make purchases through this website, where they will find extensive data for each product, as well as that of the producer.
The order is delivered to the customer's home or the customer can pick it up at the store, in a special pick-up area.
The platform offers fresh products, processed products, and special range of goods, such as 0-kilometre products, artisan products, or local organic products.
It also emphasises the active role of the producer in the construction of the commercial proposal and the management of its products.
The first Eroski Azoka collection point is located in the Amara centre in Donostia.
"Our ultimate goal is the generation of a community, an ecosystem that is supported by two fundamental values: sustainability and social responsibility. The website is a support point that allows us to put into practice what it means to be a cooperative, to do things in a different way," explained Eroski's commercial director of local products, Asun Bastida.
The Basque Government's Department of Economic Development, Sustainability, and the Environment has recently signed a collaboration agreement with Eroski to strengthen and develop the local agri-food industry in the three Basque territories.
It includes commitments to guaranteeing the sustainability of the agri-food sector in the Basque Country, participating in innovation programmes, and promoting agreements that facilitate the development and distribution of local products.
Website Accessibility
The Eroski Azoka Internet store has achieved AA accessibility certification, which guarantees that it complies with international web accessibility standards for people with disabilities, the retailer added.
The certification has been granted by Ilunion Accesibilidad, a consultancy belonging to the ONCE Social Group.
"Eroski has taken care of even the smallest detail, so that its website is very easy to use, understandable and very accessible, from the moment you enter the web site of its Internet store, through the product search, the selection filters, or the shopping cart, where a visually impaired or blind person, for example, can know perfectly well how much they are spending and what they are spending on. Everything that is interactive is accessible," added Gustavo Daniel Ramírez, Ilunion Accessibility consultant.
Any person with a disability, whether blind, deaf, with mobility problems or cognitive impairment, or an elderly person with limited digital skills, will be able to access, navigate, and interact with the website efficiently and independently.
The website has fonts of appropriate sizes, colours, and contrasts, while images and buttons are correctly labelled for support products, such as screen readers.
Elsewhere, elements such as the invoice sent to the customer or the order management e-mails comply with the accessibility parameters.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest technology news. Article by Conor Farrelly. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
