Online supermarket Wink.be throws in the towel

The Belgian Louis Delhaize Group has decided to terminate its online supermarket Wink.be. The company was started in 2013, but never even came near reaching the break-even point.

Not enough orders

With 50 % discounts, the web supermarket has signaled its own end: CEO Cédric Antoine told French LSA that his company had no other choice than stop its activities. “Possibly the Belgian market is just too small: e-commerce is only good for 1.2 % of the total turnover in food, four times less than France’s 5 %.” He adds that he tried to look at other possibilities, but to no avail: the last orders will be delivered on 14 July.

The web supermarket opened in 2013, featuring a pick-up point in Zaventem; a year later Wavre followed. Wink.be tried expanding to train stations, gas stations and (just last year) home delivery, but all of its effort turned out to be too feable to reach a decent turnover. Even at its peak, Wink never received more than a thousand orders per week.