Flash delivery company Flink expects to be profitable in the Netherlands by the end of next year, one year later than in its home market of Germany. Grocery delivery within minutes quickly gained popularity during the corona years, but was notoriously loss-making for a long time.
A spokesperson for Flink, which has several thousand employees in the Netherlands, says the average amount customers spend per order has grown in recent years. This can help make the delivery service profitable. The company is also expanding less aggressively to new cities, while investing heavily in new branch offices in recent years.
Earlier this year, CEO and founder Oliver Merkel told the Financial Times (FT) that Flink should be profitable by the end of 2023 in Germany, the company’s most important market. Last year, the company as a whole made a turnover of 400 million euros, he said.
Competitors suffered greatly last year as investors became more cautious with new capital injections due to rising interest rates. As many flash delivery companies outspent their rapid expansion, they always needed fresh capital. Eventually, Turkish grocery delivery company Getir bought its German competitor Gorillas. According to the FT, the company paid less than half of Gorilla’s $3 billion valued in 2021. A British counterpart, Zapp, left the Netherlands last year due to huge losses and has laid off all employees.
In the Netherlands, Flink is active in more than forty municipalities, while Getir is active in fifteen cities. Flink doesn’t want to say how high turnover is in the Netherlands, but according to e-commerce knowledge platform Twinkle, revenue here rose to 53 million euros in 2021.
Source: BNR
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