Picnic expands in Germany and the Netherlands

Picnic Germany is highly ambitious: the Dutch online supermarket targets profit in North Rhine Westphalia within six months. Picnic is also expanding its delivery service in the Netherlands, to Noord Brabant.

Profit within six months

Only a month after its announcement, Picnic Germany has materialized: about two dozen Picnic vans will now service two to three average-sized cities in North Rhine Westphalia. It will add another dozen shortly and it should deliver at home in twenty German cities in 2019. Picnic Germany’s new CEO is clear about his ambitions: the first German Picnic locations should generate a profit within six months.

None of Picnic’s competitors has managed to become profitable in the local online grocery delivery business, but the German media has high expectations for Dutch Picnic. Analysts were impressed with the fact that the company managed to attract 100 million euro shortly after its foundation in 2015. Both the company and analysts believe the German region offers a lot of growth potential, because it currently lacks.

Tilburg and Breda

Picnic is also working on its Dutch service: the online supermarket will now launch in Noord Brabant, starting with Breda and Tilburg. Launching in May, 185,000 families will be able to use the grocery delivery service. Picnic is also highly confident about this launch: “The south has expressed an interest in Picnic since we started, which is why we will launch in two cities at once”, founder Michiel Muller said. There will be about forty employees in Tilburg, who will operate about fifteen electric vans; Picnic will employ about thirty employees and 10 vans in Breda. The short-term goal is to increase those numbers to 80 vehicles and 250 employees.

Its Dutch and (expected) German success is mainly because of its unique formula: unlike its competitors, it only delivers at home, with no service fees and with a lowest price guarantee.