Digital disruption is really affecting the Dutch supermarket sector. Big players like Albert Heijn and Jumbo are expanding on their existing markets with new digital tools such as Albert Heijns app and the digital self-checkout. The latter of which is becoming more and more prevelant and controversial with mistakes leading to pretty nasty consequences for innocent customers. (Van Kampen, 2024)
New digital entrants are showing up to the scene like Picnic and Flink, these companies are competing with these big chains with a completely new business model existing only trough their platform where customers can interact with the supermarkets. They offer a mobile-only experience with a focus on sustainability and creating a streamlined time-saving experience for customers. Flink focusses mainly on quick last-minute groceries while Picnic focus shifts more towards weekly groceries for young families as seen in their latest ad campaign. (Picnic, 2024)
These new players have leveraged their digital business models by cutting the physical stores out of their supply chain and as such are reducing the cost of providing groceries to people. As these new platforms continue to affect customer expectations of what a supermarket can be this change illustrates the need for flexibility of the current players. This can be seen in the response from Albert Heijn which has chosen to reply by copying the same strategy that these new entrants have shown, providing online delivery trough their existing app.
I think it’s interesting to see how this space is affected by using existing digital technology but adapting it to create a new business model in a long existing space. Do you think that we will see further growth of the new players or will the current players envelop these new ideas into their platforms even further and win the competition using their existing resources?
Van Kampen, J. (2024, 18 oktober). Marianne (63) uren in de cel na foutje bij zelfscankassa. RTL Nieuws & Entertainment. https://www.rtl.nl/nieuws/economie/artikel/5475701/marianne-uren-de-cel-na-foutje-bij-zelfscankassa
Picnic. (2024, 4 oktober). Heb jij onze nieuwe Weekplanner al gezien? 🍝👀 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kw05xoVXfc
