Le Paneer Blue: An online portal requires several million dollars

Alain Dumas, general manager of the platform, said on Friday that Le Panier Blue was looking for new funding in the private sector to help launch its new portal to promote Quebec products.

Almost a year after the launch of Blue Basket, Alain Dumas, in a speech to the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM), suggested that he still needs to find private funding to support his policy.

“We want to sustain ourselves, we know we have to move, unfortunately, we never put our shoulder on the wheel when it comes to funding. […] We are talking about several million dollars, ”he explained in his speech on Friday.

The Desjardins Group and National Bank have already invested nearly 000,900,000, supporting the delivery of this new online e-commerce structure by next fall.

Mr. Dumas is also expected to take action with the Legalt government.

“We will definitely knock on the ministry door [de l’Économie] To tell him that he can be a partner, ”he said.

In addition to financial support, the Blue Basket General Manager is also expected to invest from various associations and municipalities in the region.

The findings of the report, released last January, highlight the need to propose the Quebec sector to compete with foreign platforms, which currently receive nearly $ 4 billion in sales in the province.

Mr. Dumas wants to propose a proximity approach to deal with global giants of online commerce such as Amazon.

“We are not trying to create another platform, but to create a unified position of different players in the Quebec environment,” he stressed.

“We are probably ahead of the parade on this kind of initiative [au niveau mondial]», Underline Mr. Dumas. “If there’s time to try to keep anything, it’s now.”