Can fresh produce sell online?

Can you touch, smell and hold fresh fish on a computer screen the way you can in a real-world market? As competition from Amazon, Google and other online food shopping conglomerates grows, sellers at Rungis are being encouraged to go online. But many third and second generation produce sellers balk at the idea.

“If we don’t press the fishmonger, the vegetable seller and the butcher to go digital, we’ll disappear,” said St Ephane Layani, president of Semmaris. He fishmonger DuFays, 58, says: “People need to see the fish, touch it, make sure it’s fresh. You can’t do that through a screen.”