A supermarket is actually a very illogical concept, says Tom Peeters. “Then you first buy things and place them in physical places, and then wait for someone to buy it. That is not so smart.”
Such a model ensures a lot of waste of products that remain for too long if the entrepreneur wants to say. “In the Netherlands, more than a thousand places fresh fish is waiting for a customer. And everything you then throw away, you also have to process again.”
With his online shopping service Crisp he wants to do it differently. “We do not put products in stock in the hope that it will be sold, but buy in from suppliers only when we have already sold it. Asking and demand are connected much more efficiently in this way, which ensures a shorter chain and a fresher product. This also keeps it longer for the customer in the house.”
Fresh products Only when a customer is purchased from different suppliers is a lot more complex. “We have more than three thousand products in our range, a normal supermarket has about twenty to thirty thousand. But there you also have 20 different types of eggs- why would you want that? We have two.”
“I also believe that diapers sell, which do a lot of supermarkets, has very little to do with lettuce or tomato or sell bread. Traditionally, that is sold in one physical place. But almost no one shopping but in one place.” Peeters therefore prefers to be concerned with the specific logistics that is needed for fresh products. Different ‘temperature zones’ must ensure that the basil does not get too cold, while the purslane has to be cooled in order not to wilt.
At that time I didn’t necessarily want to go to America for financing, but as a young company you unfortunately come out of it often
Loan from ABN AMRO
Crisp, which is active throughout the Netherlands, has been around since 2018. In 2022 an extension to Belgium followed. On Thursday, the company announces that ABN AMRO enters as a financier at Crisp, with a loan of 28 million euros. This largely serves as a replacement for an earlier loan from 2022 of 23.9 million euros from the American venture investor Triple Point Capital, which ended.
“At that time I did not go to an American investor because I really wanted to go to America,” says Peeters. “But as a young company you come looking for financing that risky first phase unfortunately often outside the national borders. Europe is behind in the field of money for innovation, while it is important to keep it here instead of outsourcing it.
“With ABN AMRO we are now clearly going into the next phase. In addition to replacing that credit, we now have more room to invest in software, our range and in our logistics.”
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Profitable in the Netherlands
Crisp says that the Dutch branch is now profitable for more than a year – the company has not yet deposited an annual accounts for 2024. “The income in the Netherlands will cover all the costs that we incur here. In Belgium it is also developing according to plan, we expect that at the end of this year we will run green figures with the entire group for the first time. Flemish people order more at the same time than Dutch people and are also a little loyal, but the threshold before they make a first purchase is a bit higher. We have to make something more marketing so that they know us.”
Crisp has ‘tens of thousands’ customers per week, says Peeters. “A total of hundreds of thousands. 70 percent of our turnover come from people who have a rhythm and order more or less weekly from us. On average, they spend 100 euros excluding VAT on more than thirty products.”
I noticed that it is quite a lot of work to get with good ingredients if you have a family with young children
How big do you want to be?
“We will never want to be the largest supermarket in the Netherlands. I think that for fresh food is actually a very difficult model, the store with always everything for everyone. Amazon is trying to build that, but I don’t believe they are best selling in lettuce and strawberries.”
“Currently, something of 8 percent of the groceries in the Netherlands is being done online, that is very little. So 92 percent are not online. Whether that goes to 20 or 40 or 80 percent, that doesn’t really matter to me, but it will be a much larger market. I think there will always be a place for offline groceries, I sometimes do that myself, but not in the ratio 92 compared to 8.”
Who is your target group?
“Most of our customers are young families. More and more young people want to know what exactly they eat and no longer trust blindly on big brands. They prefer fresh than long -lasting and rather from close by than from far away. And those people really do not all live in Amsterdam, 52 percent of our customers live outside the Randstad.
“If you look at our customer group and compare it with the demography of the Netherlands, there is a lot of overlap.” Peeters explains it on the basis of the WOZ value of the postcodes where Crisp delivers. “Our customers are just 5 to 10 percent above average.”
“I noticed that it is quite a lot of work to come up with good ingredients if you have a family with young children. The groceries must then be done at the edges of the day or at the weekend. Out of convenience you end up in the supermarket, while it is very nice to go to the market or the fish auction occasionally.
“There is a very large landscape of small -scale makers, farmers and growers in the Netherlands. Quality can often be found in small scale, the best tomato soup does not come from the greatest tomato soup factory.
“We started to open up that network. So that you can not only get fresh strawberries from the Noordoostpolder if you live in the area, but also if you live in Groningen, Breda or Maastricht.”
If I order with your strawberries at five minutes to eleven in the evening, does someone who pick at night?
“Not specifically for you. But today he is picked for the deliveries of tomorrow. For me it is no surprise how much strawberries I sell tomorrow, that can be predicted very well. We collect data about the demand and supply of products, with that we can better predict what will be sold.
“Nothing is as personal as eating, but there is a pattern in it. There are a lot of data available about it, you have been eating for as long as you exists. And you can learn something from that data, you can build software around it. Also to give back to the customer. By, for example, pointing out endive fneans on summer posteline, if that is more in the season.
“We do strawberries in the discount when it has been hot and they come from the country. We do not record promotions in advance in long -term contracts, but we do the moment there are a lot of strawberries. Actually, just like on the classic Saturday market, that such a lady or gentleman is tackling for a market stall of ‘Take them, two trays for one’.”
Putting fruit and vegetables in bags and bringing them to customers does not necessarily sound efficient. Large retailers continuously optimize their cucumbers in plastic film so that they can last as cheaply as possible.
“In what level is it more efficient? Then you have to throw less away, they say. Aha. But that is exactly what I don’t do. I make sure that the cucumber can come directly to the customer and do not have to be stored in the store for long.”