Picnic continues to grow and prepares for French expansion

Picnic almost doubled its turnover in 2019, although losses also increased. In the meantime, the online supermarket is preparing to expand into France – and who knows, into Belgium also?

Growth continues

In 2019, Picnic realised a turnover of 232.8 million euros, almost double compared to the previous year. According to co-founder Michiel Muller, revenues will double again in 2020. Those numbers are mainly driven by the current coronavirus pandemic, he told Dutch newspaper FD.

Because of this rapid growth, substantial investments in people, buildings and equipment are required. It explains why, in addition to the turnover, the loss also rose from 36.7 million euros in 2018 to almost 44 million euros in 2019. “We have many cities where we have only been active for a short time and where we are growing exponentially. But the same is true for places where we have been operating for longer. In fact, in 2015 in Amersfoort, our first city, we are growing by double digits every year,” says Muller.

France?

Picnic was founded in 2015. Today, the company operates in over 100 Dutch and 30 German cities. Judging by a few vacancies for French-speaking employees, the online supermarket now seems to be preparing for expansion into France. Muller does not want to confirm this but mentions France as an interesting country. “There is some activity in the domain of online groceries, but it doesn’t go any further than collection from the supermarket, not home delivery.”

The chief executive also no longer rules out a potential move into Belgium. However, six months ago, he still said he would preferably look into larger countries, “but the world is changing rapidly,” he now explains to Dutch RTL News. “In the coming months, we will be making a decision.”