When US retailer Amazon started home delivery of groceries in Berlin and Munich in May 2017, there was increased nervousness on the executive floors of Austrian retailers. This has now come to an end, because Amazon is only moderately successful with its "Fresh" service in the neighboring country.
In Austria, Amazon has its own logistics center in the northern part of Vienna since last year. "Amazon Fresh becoming active here in the near future is not an issue," says Unimarkt CEO Andreas Haider, based on the experience in Germany. This was reported in the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten.
Pick-ups keep down costs
The Upper Austrian supermarket chain Unimarkt is a pioneer in Austria, offering nationwide home delivery of food. Billa and Interspar are also supplying fresh groceries, but the three competitors are really trying to steer to a pick-up system. This way, they want to avoid the delivery costs,-which are particularly high with fresh goods because of the cold chain- whilst still satisfying their online clientele.
Interspar, however, last week opened a pick-up facility at Tullnerfeld station (Lower Austria) to allow commuters to pick up fresh goods to make their dinner. This can be done at any time slot until 11 pm. All you need to do, is enter the code you received when you ordered online.