Dutch online-only supermarket Picnic builds new DC

Picnic, the online-only supermarket from the Netherlands that raised 100 million euros in March this year, has started to build a big distribution center in the center of the country. In about seven months, a new distribution center that covers 35,000 square meters should arise and enable deliveries to the megalopolis of the Randstad.

Earlier this year, the Dutch startup managed to raise 100 million euros in funding, which it said it would partly use to open five new distribution centers and 70 local hubs. This week, the supermarket started building a distribution center in Utrecht, a major, centrally situated city in the Netherlands. Picnic expects to generate between 500 and 1,000 new jobs when the new distribution center will be opened in March next year. It will cover 35,000 square meters and be much bigger than the two distribution centers it currently has (one of 3,000m² in Nijkerk and one of 7,000m² also in Utrecht).

Delivering groceries nationwide

The new distribution center fits well with the plans of Picnic to roll out its service throughout the country. Picnic delivers its groceries to 24 municipalities, four times as much as at the end of last year. These municipalities are located in the center or in the western part of the country, but Picnic has always said that eventually, it wants to deliver groceries nationwide.

250 electric cars delivering groceries

To deliver groceries, Picnic uses electric cars. At the beginning of this year, there were 80 of them driving around in the Netherlands, but currently, the company has 250 of these small cars on the road. It also ordered a hundred more, which should be delivered in the upcoming months.