Belgium to get its first online-only supermarket

Belgian Stijn Martens wants to replicate the success of Dutch online-only supermarket Picnic in his home country. His project Hopr will start a trial project in a Belgian city early next year.

Inspirational Picnic

Belgium currently does not have an online-only supermarket, but in the Netherlands Picnic has taken this concept and made quite success out of it, both in its home market and in Germany. The company continues its expansion and only two weeks ago, it raised 250 million euros in order to build an automatic distribution centre.

Stijn Martens, formerly a marketing director at telecom provider Mobile Vikings, now wants to adopt the same principle and set up a first Belgian trial early next year. His project, Hopr, has already secured three electric vans, the necessary finances and contacts with suppliers, Belgian business newspaper De Tijd reports.

The question remains whether the project will be profitable: none of the large supermarket chains have succeeded in making a profit with the home delivery of groceries. Martens realises that it will be a big challenge: “I do not know if it is feasible, but I want to try it. Picnic has also started with one van; now they are conquering the Netherlands and Germany. Two weeks ago they raised 250 million”, Martens remains hopeful.