Ochama, a subsidiary of the Chinese JD.com group, is opening pick-up points in Blokker stores. A clever win-win: the webshop can scale up faster in the Netherlands, while Blokker expands its range and attracts new customers.
Fast and efficient
Ochama started trading in the Netherlands at the beginning of this year. The webshop sells a range of both food and non-food items at competitive prices, in a membership formula: for 10 euros a year, members receive a 10% discount on everything. Very innovative are the automated pick-up stores that the e-commerce giant has opened: robots do the order picking in front of the consumer – although home delivery is also an option. There are now four such robot stores in the Netherlands: in Leiden, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam (Diemen).
Now, Ochama is also going to open pick-up points in Blokker stores – without robots. The scoop is for a branch in The Hague, writes the AD. Later on, Rotterdam, Zoetermeer, Amstelveen and Breda will follow. Blokker hopes that customers who come to collect their groceries will also be tempted by the range in the stores. There is a match: Ochama sells (mainly) food, and Blokker has an extensive range of cookware.
Ochama, for its part, hopes that this cooperation will give it nationwide coverage and notoriety. “We are aiming at customers who are planners. People who want to do their shopping quickly and efficiently because of a lack of time,” says operational director Mark den Butter. “The idea is to be back outside with stuff within three minutes.” That may not be what Blokker is hoping for …
