Dutch online supermarket Picnic expands to Germany

Picnic, a Dutch supermarket that only operates online, will expands it business to Germany. The company launched a pilot project in the Dusseldorf region several months ago and it with great success. Now, Picnic has decided that starting next month, it will deliver groceries to all consumers in this pilot area.

And, similar to how it operates in the Netherlands, the company will expand its business slowly, by launching its service in one new city at a time. Kaarst, Neuss, Meerbusch and Oberkassel (part of Düsseldorf’s district 4) will be the first German areas where consumers can order groceries online using the Picnic app. After that, further expansion will take place, starting in North Rhine-Westphalia, which has a population of about 18 million people.

Launching in Germany is the first step towards internationalization of the Picnic concept, the company explains in a press release. It also reveals many international players have shared their interest in partnering with the Dutch online-only supermarket. “For us, launching in Germany is a great opportunity and we look forward to making German households happy with our service”, co-founder Michiel Muller says. “The pilot results are promising and we’ve set up a completely German infrastructure that’s fully able to handle the demand.”

Picnic in Germany

Picnic started with preparing for the German market a year and a half ago. It determined the product assortment, customized the mobile app, wrote new route algorithms and built a new team of German experts. The company also opened a new distribution center and hub in Viersen and Neuss. This enables them to connect new cities in North Rine-Westphalia.

About Picnic

Picnic is a Dutch company, started by four entrepreneurs who have earned their spurs. After three years of building up the company, it finally launched in 2015. It delivers groceries in about 30 cities across the Netherlands, although most of them are located in the central-western part of the country.

Picnic delivers groceries without any shipping fees, although customers need to order products with a total order value of at least 25 euros. This order threshold is much lower than that of competitor Albert Heijn though. The company uses small, electric cars to deliver the groceries and this is part of the reason why it’s able to sell the goods for low prices and without any shipping fees. In March of 2017, the company raised 100 million euros to further expand its business.