Picnic's largest distribution centre was officially taken into use today. The building in Apeldoorn was opened months earlier than initially planned. Due to the explosive growth of online groceries, Picnic needed the space at an accelerated pace.
Initially, the distribution centre in Apeldoorn was due to open at the end of 2020. Due to the corona crisis, the demand for online groceries grew so fast that additional infrastructure was needed. The building on the Ecofactorij, previously home to DIY wholesaler THR, was already vacant and could therefore be occupied earlier.
With the extra capacity, Picnic mainly wants to relieve the current DCs. With an area of 20,000 square metres, the building in Apeldoorn is larger than comparable locations in Diemen, Eindhoven, Utrecht, Nijkerk and Rotterdam. It has 1,200 metres of racking, with the cold store alone being larger than the first DC in Nijkerk.
Picnic's own collective labour agreement
Apeldoorn is Picnic's first distribution centre where all 450 employees are covered by its own e-commerce collective labour agreement. The online supermarket drafted the collective labour agreement after it received strong criticism from FNV for not complying with the supermarket collective labour agreement. However, the web supermarket found this CBA outdated and not applicable to its own operations. It decided to draw up its own collective agreement, which was agreed with union De Unie.
Corona rush: morning deliveries and crate fill rates
Picnic took several measures to deal with the rush it has been facing since the corona outbreak. The red delivery vans now drive by in the morning and evening. In addition, the minimum order amount was raised from 25 to 35 euros. Picnic's data showed that 25 euro orders just needed a second crate. The fill rate of this second crate is higher at a minimum order amount of 35 euros, which Picnic says allows it to work a lot more efficiently.
