Dutch Treat

Amsterdam is a trailblazer in food-to-go and tech solutions.

Dutch Treat

April 2019   minute read

By: Fiona Briggs

Convenience and forecourt operators looking for inspiration in food-to-go and digital solutions would do well to visit Amsterdam, the focus of this year’s NACS Market Tours Europe, June 9-11. “Innovation and global influences underpin the grocery retail and foodservice landscape of Amsterdam, especially within its highly competitive food-to-go market,” said Harriet Cohen, senior retail analyst at market research firm IGD.

Along with revamping their convenience offering, Dutch retailers are transforming shopping experiences to keep up with consumers’ busy schedules. Convenience formulas are increasingly popular, with Albert Heijn to go, Jumbo City and Coop all growing their presence.

Take a quick glance at some of the characteristics of the Netherlands, and it’s not difficult to see why. The World Bank ranks it as one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. After the Scandinavians, the Dutch are the world’s biggest coffee drinkers, consuming an average of 3.2 cups of coffee a day. According to Oxfam, the Netherlands is the healthiest country in the world for diet—ahead of France and Switzerland—having the most plentiful, nutritious, healthy and affordable food of the 125 countries it reviews. And the Netherlands has more bicycles than people—about 18 million—with citizens traveling by bike for more than a quarter of all trips. This all makes for a dynamic and innovative retail environment.

Total fast-moving consumer goods sales in the Netherlands amounted to US$29 billion (€26 billion) in 2017, with brands accounting for the lion’s share at 54% and private label representing 46% of the total, according to Nielsen. In terms of store numbers, IGD research shows that superstores and supermarkets dominate, followed by discounters, liquor specialists, variety discount stores and then convenience and fuel retailers. As a result, competition in food retail remains fierce, with 10 leading players battling for market share.

Market Leader

Albert Heijn is the market leader in the Netherlands. According to Cohen, it is one retailer in particular that has identified food-to-go as a key focus for investment. Its convenience format, Albert Heijn to go, continues to innovate in ranges and digital solutions to better meet shopper needs. “Recent developments from AH with this concept include the introduction of hot food-to-go in-store, as well as the trial of a food-to-go delivery service,” Cohen said. “Select stores compile the orders and deliver free of charge by electric bicycle, demonstrating the retailer’s eco-credentials in practice.” For the pilot, Albert Heijn to go partnered with food delivery company Thuisbezorgd.nl to deliver some of its most popular to-go products in Amsterdam—including poke bowls, fresh sandwiches and juices.

Citing the company’s commitment to roll out checkout-free functionality in all of its stores, IGD says Albert Heijn is leading the pack in technological enhancements. The chain also is testing unattended in-home delivery—using smart door locks to enable deliveries when customers are not at home. And in late 2018, it began testing a vegan food-to-go counter where customers can find wraps, soups, salads and full meals.

Four to Watch

Here are some innovative store concepts in Amsterdam:

  • Albert Heijn to go (Amsterdam Central Station): Given its location, the store aims to meet customers’ coffee and food-to-go needs as quickly as possible. With a focused product range and tech solutions, the store maximizes customers’ in-store time as they pass through the station.
  • Jumbo City (Amsterdam): This concept shows how Jumbo is looking to blend its total retail offer. Its core supermarkets, Foodmarkt format and La Place restaurant deliver delicious and fresh food from its kitchen and bakery for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
  • La Place (Schiphol Airport): This buffet-style operation offers quality foodservice solutions, with a modular and flexible approach. The format lends itself well to airports. The company is expanding internationally and also works with the likes of Google to fulfill its office requirements in San Francisco and New York.
  • Foodhallen: This indoor food market with more than 20 different food stalls and bars demonstrates how grocery retail and foodservice are blurring as companies compete with retailers, cafés and restaurants for meal-for-tonight spend.

(Source: IGD)

A Close Second

Elsewhere, Jumbo—the No. 2 in the Netherlands with an 18.4% market share—entered the convenience channel with its Jumbo City format in late 2017. “Although there are only a handful of these urban-focused stores at present, including in Amsterdam, Jumbo plans to open up to 10 of these stores in the future,” Cohen said. In 2018, about 95% of the company’s sales came from core Jumbo formats, while US$296 million (€262 million) came from the recently acquired EMTÉ business and US$169.5 (€150 million) from La Place, which the retailer bought in 2016.

NACS Market Tours Europe

Amsterdam | June 9-11
Register today!
www.convenience.org/markettours

Like Albert Heijn, Jumbo is investing in fulfillment, delivery and new digital technologies. Last May, the retailer opened its second fulfillment center in Raalte to facilitate online growth, and it began testing a new home delivery service in November. The service uses a system of hubs to reach more customers by offering greater access to large cities. Jumbo plans to open test hubs in Amsterdam and Middelburg later this year. The retailer also plans to make its digital Food Coach app, developed in 2018, more widely available this year. The app provides tailor-made advice on healthy eating and links to orders from Jumbo.com.

Further commitment in healthy food comes with the retailer’s partnership with La Place to open the Jumbo Food College in 2019. According to the retailer, it will provide training and a focus on innovation and inspiration, as well as tasty and healthy food. La Place, meanwhile, is expanding at home and abroad with a vision to serve customers on the move.

Coop, with a 3.1% market share, is similarly focused. Last year it expanded its city-format concept Coop Vandaag (Coop Today), adding five stores to create a seven-strong chain. The format offers daily meals and good products at supermarket prices, with a focus on fresh foods. The group also has invested in e-commerce, which has grown by 240%, supported by a new delivery app.

The Netherlands—Amsterdam in particular—offers rich pickings for new food-to-go and digital solutions, and they can be sampled and observed firsthand on the next NACS Market Tours Europe.

 

INSIDE SCOOP

Mark Wohltman

Mark Wohltmann, director of NACS Europe, provides a sneak preview of the trends that participants in the NACS Market Tours Europe: Amsterdam will observe:

  • Serious food. “We will see how retailers, small and large, not just incorporate foodservice but make it a focal point of their offer. Or to use the words of a Dutch petrol retailer, ‘We are not a petrol station with a c-store … we are a restaurant with a petrol pump.’”
  • Selling a brand to Gen Z. “We will learn how the next generation shops and how you market your brand to a group that dislikes brands.”
  • Going cashless. “We will visit outlets where younger consumers ‘ditch the cash’ to learn how this approach completely changes onsite operations. We also will learn how the perception that cash is dirty actually can be a selling point to going cashless.”
  • The return of full-service. “We will experience a patented full-service-fueling lane. Sit back, relax, and the conveyor belt will take you to the next level of a comfortable fueling experience. Or to use the seldom-heard words of a customer at the site: ‘I just love it when the tank is empty—then I can finally go fueling again.’”
  • Service as a profit center. “We will hear from retailers that innovated, improved, broke even and now make a profit with in-petrol-station laundromats, dog washes—yes, dog washes!—flower shops, barbers and more.”
  • Multiple coffee stops (and profits). “We will follow the daily journey of the coffee junkie and see how retailers can benefit from offering a branded coffeehouse experience, an own-brand quick-serve coffee point, vending and the good old plain brewed coffee—all at the same site.”
  • More than just a c-store. “We will find convenience—and consumers embracing it—in likely and unlikely places: hot dogs sold next to suitcases, hot-food vending on the high street and high-sugar indulgence in a healthy-food store.”