Wednesday, 5 August 2015 - 15:08
Online supermarket promises free delivery, lowest prices
A new online supermarket will be opening in September. This new superstore is called Picnic and it promises free delivery and guarantees the lowest prices.
A group of 30 people have secretly been working on Picnic for three years, AD reports after receiving confirmation from the initiators. The company was founded by four entrepreneurs who earned money with other companies. One of the founders is Michiel Muller, who, according to the newspaper, amassed a fortune with breakdown service Route Mobile and Tango filling stations.
Picnic will operate from a large distribution center in Nijkerk. Local hubs will be supplied from there. The first local hub is in Amersfoort, where specially developed electric buses are driving around to deliver groceries to the test group. Participants have singed a confidentiality agreement. If this trial is successful, hubs will open in the rest of the country.
Picnic says that it will have no delivery charges and can guarantee the lowest prices. It also promises less waste as only ordered products are purchased, so no food going bad on the shelves. The founders believe this will be possible because they have no physical stores.
Customers will be able to order groceries via a smartphone app. Groceries will be delivered during three set times a week.