E-commerce Player of the Year: Ahold Delhaize

Belgian-Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize has been named “e-commerce player of the year” in the United States, mostly owing to the growing integration of the online supermarket Peapod.

Thanks to Peapod

Ahold Delhaize has been chosen as e-commerce player of the year by American trade journal Grocery Dive. The supermarket group has stepped up its omni-channel efforts over the past year, and this has yielded results, particularly in the United States: the grocery group is rolling out click&collect and is increasingly able to integrate Peapod, the home delivery service, into the entire range.

Peapod has existed as a home delivery service in the US for over thirty years, but last year the company created Peapod Digital Labs, a stand-alone e-commerce unit to stimulate the group’s digital business. The ambition is to make more cohesive omni-channel efforts and create a more seamless online experience, Grocery Dive reports.

Large-scale click&collect roll-out

Ahold Delhaize has extended click&collect to most of its American chains: in January, the company launched Giant Direct (“powered by Peapod”) in its Giant Food Stores. The launch included a 38,000 sqm e-commerce hub in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to manage deliveries and collections. Giant Direct has now been implemented in 115 locations and should be available to 90 % of shoppers by the end of the year.

Food Lion has been offering a ‘To-Go’ option in more than fifty stores since this summer, and at twenty Stop & Shop stores it is possible to pick up orders on the same day. As a result, Ahold Delhaize is on track to have 600 pick-up locations by the end of this year and to provide 65 % of its customers with pick-up or home delivery on the same day. They all make use of Peapod’s know-how and services, but it was a deliberate decision to always give e-commerce activities the brand name of each formula, in order to shine light on the provided seamless experience.

Same-day delivery

Ahold Delhaize announced that it is also expanding its delivery capacities: in the centre of Washington DC, the company is experimenting with same-day delivery, and other similar tests will follow. Fleeman is examining how next-day delivery  –  which is still an important part of the strategy  – can be changed into same-day delivery.

Moreover, Ahold Delhaize is looking at various logistics options, such as micro-distribution centres in Stop & Shop stores, hoping they will allow for faster and more efficient delivery and collection. In addition, Peapod Digital Labs is still working on its own e-commerce platform, which is expected to be launched in the coming months.