Billa optimizes online shop: withdrawal from the country, expansion in the city

Billa optimizes online shop: withdrawal from the country, expansion in the city

Food retailing faces new challenges that result from changing consumption habits and economic framework conditions. Billa, one of the largest supermarket chains in Austria, has now decided to hire house delivery in rural areas. This happens at the end of November and reflects the difficulties associated with the high logistics costs for the last mile.

Billa online boss David Renker said that demand in the area of e-commerce in the country is stable, but not the growth potential that is recorded in urban areas such as Vienna. In the Viennese area, including St. Pölten and Wiener Neustadt, the online service remains unchanged. Customers can also choose whether to get the goods to their home or you want to pick up the "Click & Collect" function yourself. A new cooperation with the delivery service Foodora also enables customers to order parts of the Billa range directly from this service.

new approach in rural areas

For customers in the rural area, house delivery is eliminated, which means that the focus is now on "Click & Collect". However, Renker emphasized that the company wanted to significantly expand this service. By the end of the year, special switches and parking spaces for the users of this pick-up option are to be set up in all "Billa+" branches in order to make the process for customers as easy as possible.

Compared to the inpatient trade of Billa, which is strongly represented with around 1,300 branches, the e-commerce sector is still relatively small and accounts for only about one percent of sales. However, Renker has the ambition to double online sales in the next three years, while at the same time it is assured that no jobs will be lost. A restructuring process is initiated in the Billa e-commerce area in order to be able to better counter the challenges of the market.

The decision to hire house delivery is a clear signal for current developments in retail. The focus is on adapting the services to customer needs and the optimization of business models.