Why RetailDetail Night speaker Stijn Martens (Hopr) continues to believe in the potential of online supermarkets

Entrepreneur Stijn Martens hoped to make the first Belgian online supermarket, Hopr, a success with an innovative marketplace model. At the RetailDetail Night, he explains why that didn’t work out—and what he learned from it.

If Bill Gates believes in it…

In April 2021, Hopr launched test orders and deliveries in Hasselt, as the first local online supermarket. Martens financed the start-up phase with his own funds, with the intention of later scaling up to the whole of Flanders. Hopr wanted to distinguish itself with superior service, an approach that the entrepreneur took from his experience as marketing director of telecom operator Mobile Vikings. An innovative marketplace model with partners from the sector seemed a promising idea.

Unfortunately, things turned out differently: in February of this year, Hopr threw in the towel after “a wonderful and, above all, very educational journey.” Looking back, Martens attributes the failure to the systemic shocks of recent years, which have overturned consumer priorities. “At the start, there was a lot of interest; we had waiting lists. We sold a lot of fresh produce, with fruit and vegetables as the top category, not just crates of beer on which you make no margin.” But high inflation meant that shoppers put their budget back on top of their list of priorities. Martens was unable to find enough partners for a marketplace model.

“In physical stores, the customer is both the order picker and the driver. Delivering an online order to your home costs 20 euros. That’s your margin… Automating that requires huge investments. Still, I believe in the potential of online supermarkets. Look at Picnic: Bill Gates, a very smart investor, has put 600 million euros into it. Is there something he knows that we don’t?”

Failure as a learning moment

Today, Stijn Martens works at Peasy: the growing group behind Hypotheekwinkel (70 stores), verzekeringen.be, and aanbieders.be, one of Belgium’s largest independent price comparison sites. He will talk about his experiences with Hopr in the preliminary program “Fail forward” at RetailDetail Night on November 20. A seminar on failure as a learning opportunity: after all, failure does not have to be a negative experience; it can be a source of inspiration for growth and development.

RetailDetail sought out and found retailers who were willing to talk about their inspiring failures. The participants will engage in open conversation with moderator Stefan Van Rompaey, with colleagues, and with you, the audience. Also on stage: Pascale Switten on the relaunch and end of the Cameleon outlet store, Mark MJ Vandevelde on the journey of the sustainable sneaker brand Komrads, and Alain Hellebaut, who will share five lessons from his thirty years of experience as a manager at Fun, Maxi Toys, Oh’Green, and other companies, under the motto “Crises are inevitable — but chaos is a choice.”

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