Online grocery firm Picnic has announced plans to develop a new automated fulfilment centre at Hessenpoort business part in Zwolle, construction of which will commenced in November of this year.
The 45,000 square metre centre, which will feature automated sorting, packing and distribution facilities, as well as three different temperature zones, follows on from the development of similar centres in Utrecht and Rotterdam.
Picnic Sales Growth
Picnic, which commenced operations in Amersfoort in 2015, reported sales of €500 million last year, with its turnover doubling year-on-year. This year, it is expecting sales to reach €1 billion. In 2018, the business launched operations in Germany, while it also recently started in the French market, in the Valenciennes region.
The company said that its planned Zwolle centre will seek to reduce food waste to a minimum, as well as significantly reducing the amount of packaging material used, in keeping with the group's sustainability goals.
Once operational, the centre will have capacity for more than 400,000 product crates, and deliver groceries to more than 200,000 families per week.
Strategic Importance Of Hessenpoort
Commeting on Picnic's plans, René de Heer, alderman of the municipality of Zwolle, commented, "With its choice, Picnic underlines the great importance of Hessenpoort as a large-scale and strategic business park for the Zwolle region. [...] With the arrival of a thousand new jobs, Zwolle confirms its position as the second largest job engine in the Netherlands."
In September of last year, the group announced that it had entered into a new purchasing agreement with German retailer Edeka, replacing its existing partnership with wholesaler Superunie.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. For more Supply Chain news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
