E-commerce grew with double digits in the second quarter at Ahold Delhaize, partly thanks to a strong performance from Bol. As a result, the group achieves online profitability for the first time.
Online milestone
Ahold Delhaize’s online revenue grew by 14.4% to 2.5 billion euros in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, a performance attributed to a strong sales evolution at Bol with a growth of 12.5%. Attracting international sales partners to the platform is paying off.
More importantly, the e-commerce activities are now profitable for the first time at the retailer, which refers to this in the press release as a “milestone.” For most supermarket chains, online is a loss-making activity, but that seems to be slowly changing. CEO Frans Muller attributes the improved online profitability to more cost-efficient delivery models, increasing fulfilment capacity, automating processes, and leveraging retail media propositions. In the US, the retailer is focusing more on pickup instead of delivery.
Strong performance in Benelux
Ahold Delhaize has had a more than decent quarter: revenue grew by 3.3% to 23.1 billion euros, slightly above expectations. The underlying operating profit margin was 4%: 4.4% in the US and 3.7% in Europe. The financial figures are negatively impacted by the weak dollar exchange rate.
In Europe, where comparable sales grew by 4.9%, Ahold Delhaize speaks of “strong performance” in the Benelux despite the impact of the tobacco ban. The integration of Profi, the Romanian supermarket chain whose acquisition was completed earlier this year, is also progressing well.
