Online supermarket Picnic is one of the most expensive supermarkets in the Price Index. Home delivery costs more. Better technology will lead to lower prices, expects extraordinary professor of e-marketing Cor Molenaar.
We only paid more for a shopping cart filled with A-brands at Poiesz than at Picnic. When it comes to private labels, Picnic is the most expensive.
If you go to the supermarket by car, you pay for fuel
Cor Molenaar of Erasmus University in Rotterdam immediately makes some comments. Invisible costs, for example: “Shopping groceries in a physical supermarket involves invisible costs. If you go by car, you pay for fuel and parking.”
But, Molenaar also knows: “If you remove all the comments, you go for the lowest price. Then you don’t have it delivered to your home. That is a luxury.”
More power in negotiations with suppliers
The professor foresees various developments that, in his opinion, will lead to lower prices. “A group like Albert Heijn has more power in price negotiations with suppliers than Picnic. It is not without reason that Picnic has joined the German Edeka. that gives more power in the negotiations.”
Margins are thin, saving on logistics is interesting
According to Molenaar, the main impetus for future lower delivery prices is technology. The margins in the supermarket industry are thin. Saving on logistics costs can yield a lot.
Companies such as Albert Heijn and Jumbo are a lot further along than Picnic, Molenaar believes. “The distribution is automated and data-driven, where Picnic actually has to pack each package itself and then deliver it to the customer. What I understand is that Picnic has the automation well in order at customer level, but still has work to do on logistics.”
Bill Gates invests euros in technology
The online supermarket will therefore want to do everything it can to advance its technology. An investment round raised 355 million euros for the company at the beginning of this year, and Bill Gates, among others, is investing money in the company.
Molenaar expects money that Picnic will partly invest in advancing the technology. “The consumer will ultimately benefit from this.”