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If you think last-mile logistics is interesting, come check out Picnic in the Netherlands. We're an online-only supermarket. We do milkman style deliveries, whe

If you think last-mile logistics is interesting, come check out Picnic in the Netherlands. We're an online-only supermarket. We do milkman style deliveries, where we have a few fixed times per day that the customer can choose to have their delivery (20 minute window), allowing us to make the routing efficient and fast, enough that we can do free deliveries. This overall seems to be working better than Walmart's approach. We've got a pretty solid tech team, and always looking for more people to join. https://blog.picnic.nl/ https://blog.picnic.nl/

karambahh 8y ago
Had the pleasure to interact with PicNic CTO in their past job and met PicNic tech team at various conferences in Europe: top talent with a great team spirit working on many interesting topics. PicNic is a bit puzzling for traditional retailers. I interact with C-levels execs of "traditional" retailers in Europe and very few have heard about PicNic. When they realize what PicNic achieved in the NL, basically "solving" the last mile problem they all have, they usually are quite impressed. Obviously, last-mile delivery is highly country specific: sociology and urban planning/population density in the Netherlands is very different to any other European country. Attempt to roll out the PicNic model in Scandinavia (roughly the same population size) would be a completely different story. As an outsider, I'm wondering what PicNic next move will be. My money is on an international expansion into Germany, starting with Dusseldorf and its lander (similar population density and size).
- jsumrall 8y ago
  You guessed correctly! https://ecommercenews.eu/dutch-online-supermarket-picnic-expands-germany https://ecommercenews.eu/dutch-online-supermarket-picnic-exp... Indeed some things work great in the Netherlands which might not work well in other places. But even if we have to change some parts of the delivery model to adapt to other markets, I think the high level concept has a high chance of working.
  - karambahh 8y ago
    I do agree. You're in a much better position than your competitors: easier for you to win on the delivery market in the FR than, say, for Carrefour or Auchan to solve it. (which they have attempted to solve for the last 10 years with varying degrees of success)
- southerndrift 8y ago
  They would operate right next to the headquarters of Metro, Rewe and Aldi, some of the biggest retailers in Germany. That would immediately trigger a response which would be great for customers.
zaroth 8y ago
I think for me ideally I would place the order online and drive through to pick it up. Eventually it’s a robot doing the drive through pickup. You just load the items into a trunk which automatically opens. But I always liked the idea of streamlined pickup not last mile in-home delivery.
- jsumrall 8y ago
  That seems to be the model that Walmart is having the most success with right now in the US. Fortunately this is something we could do if it becomes more requested. But, just guessing, that market is probably small. I think the main competition will be shopping in store vs. online + delivered.

karambahh 8y ago

Had the pleasure to interact with PicNic CTO in their past job and met PicNic tech team at various conferences in Europe: top talent with a great team spirit working on many interesting topics. PicNic is a bit puzzling for traditional retailers. I interact with C-levels execs of "traditional" retailers in Europe and very few have heard about PicNic. When they realize what PicNic achieved in the NL, basically "solving" the last mile problem they all have, they usually are quite impressed. Obviously, last-mile delivery is highly country specific: sociology and urban planning/population density in the Netherlands is very different to any other European country. Attempt to roll out the PicNic model in Scandinavia (roughly the same population size) would be a completely different story. As an outsider, I'm wondering what PicNic next move will be. My money is on an international expansion into Germany, starting with Dusseldorf and its lander (similar population density and size).

jsumrall 8y ago
You guessed correctly! https://ecommercenews.eu/dutch-online-supermarket-picnic-expands-germany https://ecommercenews.eu/dutch-online-supermarket-picnic-exp... Indeed some things work great in the Netherlands which might not work well in other places. But even if we have to change some parts of the delivery model to adapt to other markets, I think the high level concept has a high chance of working.
- karambahh 8y ago
  I do agree. You're in a much better position than your competitors: easier for you to win on the delivery market in the FR than, say, for Carrefour or Auchan to solve it. (which they have attempted to solve for the last 10 years with varying degrees of success)
southerndrift 8y ago
They would operate right next to the headquarters of Metro, Rewe and Aldi, some of the biggest retailers in Germany. That would immediately trigger a response which would be great for customers.

zaroth 8y ago

I think for me ideally I would place the order online and drive through to pick it up. Eventually it’s a robot doing the drive through pickup. You just load the items into a trunk which automatically opens. But I always liked the idea of streamlined pickup not last mile in-home delivery.

jsumrall 8y ago
That seems to be the model that Walmart is having the most success with right now in the US. Fortunately this is something we could do if it becomes more requested. But, just guessing, that market is probably small. I think the main competition will be shopping in store vs. online + delivered.