Picnic

Dutch online supermarket Picnic has raised 250 million euros to build an automated distribution centre, that should be able to provide 150,000 families with groceries every week.

The price gap between major brands and private labels is growing in Dutch supermarkets. Chains are also increasingly using localised prices, making general comparisons difficult. Online supermarket Picnic seems to be the overall winner of a price comparison by the Consumers' Union.

Retailers often make their omnichannel models needlessly complicated and expensive. The problem is they start from the wrong assumptions. In his newest book, retail professor Gino Van Ossel makes a case for pragmatism.

Picnic's co-founder Michiel Muller has confirmed earlier rumours that his Dutch online supermarket was trialing in Germany. He added that the trials were done under the brand name Sprinter.

If co-founder Joris Beckers is to be believed, Dutch online supermarket Picnic will do to the food industry what Zalando did to fashion. He will elaborately talk about his vision for the new shape of grocery shopping at the RetailDetail Congress, on 28 April.