Albert Heijn needs to innovate more rapidly in order to remain relevant in thirty years’ time, CEO Wouter Kolk said. A hot meal delivery service and a dashboard to show customers how healthy they are shopping, are both in the works.
Speed is key
Albert Heijn will launch the “Mijn Voedingswaarde Dashboard” (My Nutritional Value) app in June, which will compare purchases based on their nutritional value. The dashboard will show the amount of sugar, salt, calories, fibers and carbohydrates in your groceries and will suggest alternatives. AH is also considering a hot meal delivery service, a collaboration with external parties. “We have all the ingredients and recipes right here”, CEO Wouter Kolk told Het Parool. A third of ah.nl’s orders are ready-made meals and its meal box closely resembles a hot meal delivery service already, looking at its business model.
It is this type of innovation that should keep the retailer relevant. Speed is key, according to the CEO. It used to take three years before AH opened a new store concept, but it is taking smaller steps more rapidly now. The supermarket is currently trialing screens instead of posters and it will soon open a cash register-free AH to Go store. “This is how you see whether something works. You do not need to wait.”
Learn from failures
Not every innovation will turn out to be a success. Fish on ice, bike deliveries and the smart fridge magnet Hiku were all cancelled, but that does not mean they were failures: Albert Heijn used Hiku to gain experience in voice recognition technology and it is already trialing a new speed delivery service in Rotterdam, called Rappie.
Innovations include risks, the CEO admits. Albert Heijn wants to be there for everyone and not every customer is in favour of digital developments. The manned cash register will not disappear just yet, but the retailer will probably need fewer cashiers in the future. Automated distribution centers will impact employment rates. Wouter Kolk made the statements during the Appie Tomorrow book launch, which explores food retail’s possible future. The book is the result of a major brainstorm between suppliers and experts, including RetailDetail’s Jorg Snoeck.
