VEVEY, SWITZERLAND — More than 300 Nestle brands, including Ninho, Maggi and Nescafe, will become available to more than 800,000 consumers in remote and low-income regions along the Amazon river as the Swiss-based company launches its first “floating supermarket” during the month of July.

Called “Nestle Ate Voce a Bordo,” or “Nestle Takes You Onboard,” the 90-foot long barge will travel to 18 small cities along the Brazilian Amazon beginning July 1 and lasting for nearly three weeks. The barge will dock one day in each city, providing access to individuals who previously had none, including disabled and elderly individuals.

“It will be a service to the population of the Amazon, who has streets and avenues in the form of rivers,” said Ivan Zurita, chief executive officer of Nestle Brazil. “It is a project aligned with our concept of regionalization, based on the different profiles of consumers, where we deal with each region as a different area.”

Eleven people will work on the barge, which has three stock areas and 1,076 square feet of storage space.
Nestle said the launch mirrors the door-to-door sales system the company currently operates in Brazil that features more than 7,500 re-sellers and 220 micro-distributors in 15 states in Brazil.