Early next year Dutch online supermarket Picnic wants to expand to Berlin and Paris, with Hamburg and Frankfurt to follow soon. The retailer is already active in both countries, but is now going full steam ahead for the big cities.
Capital expansion
In March 2023, Picnic wants to start delivering in Berlin and Paris, German LebensmittelZeitung reports after a recruitment event for new employees in Germany. The Dutch online supermarket has already been present in Germany since 2018, through a partnership with supermarket group Edeka, and launched in France in 2021. Consumers in the northern French cities of Lens, Lille and Valenciennes can already order there.
Now, however, the company is aiming for the capital cities. In Berlin, the building application for a distribution centre would be ready to be submitted soon. Subsequently, Picnic will also move to the cities of Frankfurt and Hamburg. Initially, the distribution centres will contain little automation or mechanisation, so that Picnic can start up there quickly.
Poland and Italy?
The online supermarket would also like to enter completely new countries: among others, launches in Poland and Italy are being actively investigated. Remarkably enough, Belgium is still not mentioned, although the webretailer is now surrounding the country.
On its Dutch home market, the grocery deliverer meanwhile is struggling with a serious technical problem: electric delivery vans regularly catch fire. This week Picnic had to take dozens of delivery vans out of circulation because of a fire risk.
