Ellen Codd, Amsterdam Office, Bord Bia
As convenience continues to be the driving trend in the Netherlands, an increasing number of consumers are turning to online grocery shopping. With 90% of consumers within a ten minute walk of a supermarket, online shopping has been traditionally low in the Netherlands. However, online sales have grown rapidly since 2013, with 29% of Dutch consumers buying food online in 2017.The Dutch are now leaders in Europe in online grocery shopping, overtaking the UK. The consumer groups shopping online is relatively concentrated – households with children account for almost 40% of all supermarket sales, but over 60% of online grocery sales.
Market disruptor Picnic, an app-based online only store is the one to watch in the online space. It is quickly growing in the Dutch market, entered the German market in 2018, and is considering entry in the Belgian market. With no minimum spend and free delivery, Picnic’s market share is growing at the expense of traditional retailers – however, this does not mean that retailers such as Albert Heijn are generating less revenue from online sales, but rather that the market as a whole is growing rapidly. Last month, Picnic expanded its range to 7,000 products, focusing in particular on meat, especially value added meat, higher-end and local products, and wine.
The growth of consumer interest in online shopping is seen across markets and categories, and food and beverage is expected to become a key category. Grocery retail is no longer just a subsection of e-commerce, but is moving more towards an independent e-grocery category (IPLC 2018). An increased interest in online shopping presents new challenges also new opportunities for suppliers. With convenience-focused consumers reaching for smaller, on the go packaging, fully communicating your brand message becomes a challenge. Now, however, consumers can supplement the information on the packaging with information online linked to the packaging, such as recipes, nutritional information, and origin information. Suppliers should consider how their packaging will appear on the online ‘shelf’, and how they can use the online channel to communicate their brand message.
IPLC. 2018. Private Label Conference: Online Retail and Private Label. Amsterdam: IPLC.