Fruitspot Makes Worldwide Debut

NEW YORK ? Fruitspot unveiled today fruitspot.com, a faster, intuitive platform for commercial buyers and sellers of fresh products to connect and trade. The platform includes three services: a uniquely designed trading marketplace, a verified network of buyers and sellers, and a full-service support center to provide users with the personal help they need while buying or selling fresh products.

More than 600 companies have already joined the platform.

“We've designed Fruitspot to quickly solve urgent needs, frequently caused by excess or shortages in production,” said Jose Baptista, Fruitspot’s CEO. “In under two minutes, our users can notify a verified network of buyers or sellers to receive quotes that solve their need faster than anywhere else. This makes our platform uniquely valuable to access new markets, partners, and trading opportunities.”

“Fruitspot is more than a marketplace – our vision is to provide information and tools to enhance transparency in the market, not only in terms of prices and product availability, but also in terms of product quality, value, and the reliability of every user accepted into our platform,” added Eduardo Bozzolo, Country Manager in Chile.

Unique marketplace design

Fruitspot includes a revolutionary online marketplace that specializes on speed and availability. It’s designed to save time and effort for users by breaking down the amount of information and forms to fill. In less than two minutes, users can notify their need to a network of verified buyers or sellers. Users are then able to connect and interact faster, compare and select among more and better options, negotiate terms, and place orders online.

Fruitspot has flipped the marketplace model on its head to make it easier and faster for users – instead of searching through hundreds of postings, users simply notify either buyers or sellers and receive responses from those that are interested. This fundamental difference allows the platform to ensure products on the marketplace are actually available, rather than providing outdated postings of products that might not be available anymore – a typical headache for users of B2B marketplaces.

The platform also boasts a consolidated inbox design, where users can easily monitor their orders in one intuitive screen, compare offers side-by-side, and negotiate terms and details with their counterparts using an easy messaging service.

Reliable, verified buyers and sellers

Commercial buyers and sellers of fresh products now have an incredible way to connect with a better network, faster and effortlessly. Fruitspot has built and verified a network of growers, distributors, retailers, and foodservice companies – from the largest companies, to local and specialized businesses.

Each and every user is verified before their first transaction, to make sure they are reliable and qualified. The Fruitspot Verification Program (FVP) is a five-step process that considers registry information, interviews, partner surveys, PayPal security information, credit history, and certified online resources to approve users that wish to join the platform.

Every user has a set of ratings on Fruitspot – there are scores for reputation, reliability, quality, and value. It also includes a history of reviews from previous partners, and users continue to enhance these ratings after every transaction is completed. Fruitspot’s Support Team actively monitors ratings and reviews to make sure its active users are always the best and most reliable. The Team also moderates access for any user that needs improvement.

Personal support, on-demand

A key component of the platform is human touch and service – a world-class support and troubleshooting center is available whenever users need help. With the right connections and expertise, Fruitspot’s Support Team helps resolve questions and issues related to transportation, logistics, quality assurance, claims, among many other.

Fruitspot has also solved an eternal problem in B2B marketplaces – slow responses or even no responses at all. Any time a user reaches out to the network, the service will send notifications via email, text, and will even place telephone calls for its users. The Support Team then monitors progress and follows-up to make sure every request has a response within a few hours.

Safer trading

Fruitspot never touches payments made from buyers to sellers – payments are more secure when buyers send their payments directly to sellers. However, buyers and sellers can print or save back-up documentation to support their agreement and negotiation – Fruitspot not only provides a full account of negotiations that happen through the platform, but also provides purchase orders once an agreement is in place.

Fruitspot will also provide access to Trade Credit Insurance to make sure sellers get paid and become more competitive by offering credit to buyers.

Pricing & availability

Fruitspot is free to join, with no strings attached. The company first provides free access to its marketplace, verified network, and support center and only charges a service fee if and when a trade is completed. This service fee is currently set at two cents ($0.02) per dollar traded. Discounts are available upon request.

Food waste

Fruitspot has partnered with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as part of a global network of organizations working to end food waste, which currently adds up to more than 45% of all fruit and vegetable production, and half of which is lost before even reaching consumers. The UN has identified the platform as a solution to reduce food waste caused by market inefficiencies.

Team

Fruitspot has built a team of Country Managers and collaborators in more than 20 countries around the globe. This team provides personal, on the ground support and service for its users. The company has also brought Brent Erenwert on board, who boasts more than 18 years of experience in the industry and was the original founder of Produce Universe. “I am excited to join Fruitspot – I look forward to working with the hundreds of members who have already signed up and help lay the groundwork for several thousand more to join us,” said Erenwert. “Jose has created a beautiful platform, that with my background and experience can deliver what the industry has been hungry for.”

Jose Baptista, CEO and Founder

Jose is the founder and CEO of Fruitspot. He’s part of a new generation of business and marketing strategists with expertise on digital design and user experience.

Jose has built and managed digital businesses for leading brands like Procter & Gamble, Google, Nike, Coca-Cola, Tesco, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, FX Networks, Diageo, and American Express.

His work has led to identify and deliver opportunities worth more than $2 billion.

Prior to founding Fruitspot, Jose was Director of Business Strategy at Huge (an IPG company, AdAge A-List), and led strategy groups at Procter & Gamble, Booz & Co., and The Clinton Foundation.

He graduated with an MBA in Strategy, Marketing, and Leadership / Change Management from New York University (NYU) – Stern School of Business.

Jose was brought up within an agricultural heritage family, and is experienced in supply chain, procurement and global business services, areas for which he led operations improvement at Procter & Gamble.

Source: Fruitspot