AH expands online, Jumbo catches up

Additional online AH offers

With this huge online range expansion, Albert Heijn is now able to service 77 % of all Dutch families, according to a press release from the market leader.

Using its website and its app, Albert Heijn wants to facilitate online orders for its customers and they can even send in suggestions through a forum. Albert Heijn has additional offers that are only available for online shopping lists in an attempt to boost its online turnover.

It would need to do that to back its expensive operational system powering its home delivery system. Its pick-up points are also still not a profitable area, despite the fact that customers have to pick up their own orders – eliminating the most expensive final yards of the logistics process.

Scale is essential

It all depends on scale and how to reach enough volume as soon as possible, which is why Albert Heijn has focused so much on its online expansion recently. It has added 10 new pick-up points for online orders on 6 August.

This speedy expansion puts its competitors on the spot. Particularly Jumbo feels the need to quickly expand its online operations. It is still in a trial phase, but it feels the necessity to quickly build an online turnover after the initial launch.

Jumbo’s online challenge

According to Distrifood, Jumbo’s online expansion will happen in the next few weeks as it is now talking to several strategic suppliers and apparently, the goal is to get everything up and running by Christmas.

Jumbo has a reputation to uphold regarding challenges, but to get a similar online operation going in four months’ time, is impossible, even for Jumbo – especially if the geographical reach has to match that of physical stores. It is a fact that Jumbo will become active online this fall, with the holiday period as an ideal trial period for Jumbo’s online operations.