by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Lidl Netherlands is setting a world first: by 2027, the supermarket chain will replenish all its stores entirely by electric transport — the first retailer anywhere in the world to do so. The original 2030 target has been brought forward by three years, a milestone announced at the opening of a new fast-charging hub in …
Amazon’s European footprint just got significantly larger. The e-commerce and cloud giant invested a record € 60+ billion across Europe in 2025, including over €40 billion within the EU alone. For those working in city logistics and last-mile delivery, the ripple effects are hard to ignore. Jobs, infrastructure, and supply chains Amazon now supports over …
When logistics professionals discuss supply chain innovation, companies such as Amazon, Zara, and Walmart usually dominate the conversation. Yet one of the most sophisticated supply chain innovators today may be a company better known for meal kits than logistics: HelloFresh. Behind its weekly deliveries lies one of the world’s most advanced food supply chains. Over …
We all know the reflex: the washing machine stutters, the phone screen cracks, or the e-bike loses its punch — and we immediately start browsing for a replacement. But a 2026 study by TNO and the Dutch Association for Circular Economy (NVCE) shows this instinct is costing consumers real money. Choosing repair or refurbishment keeps …
Researchers at Delft University of Technology used computer simulations to predict the effects of introducing a minimum wage for platform workers, concluding that a fair wage is achievable but requires bold political decisions. The article focuses on a March 2026 study by researchers Farnoud Ghasemi and colleagues, who built an agent-based simulation modeling the behavior …
The Dutch postal market is at an impasse. PostNL holds a monopoly on letter mail delivery; service quality is deteriorating rapidly, and prices are rising sharply (in some cases by 150 to 300 percent). At the same time, the company claims that its letter mail service is loss-making and is demanding subsidies or seeking to …
Imagine two taxi drivers working at the same time, in the same city, for the same platform. One earns €18 an hour, the other €12. Nobody knows exactly why. This is the world of dynamic pricing — a controversial innovation in the gig economy. As consumers, we have already grown accustomed to it when booking …
For a company that operates more than 9,800 stores across two continents, Ahold Delhaize has quietly become one of the most formidable e-commerce players in the food retail industry. Its Q1 2026 results make that case compellingly. Group online sales reached €2.6 billion in the first quarter, up 8.3% at constant exchange rates. Net consumer …
Amazon Supply Chain Services Opens Its Logistics Network to Third Parties. Are the concerns of UPS, FedEx, and DHL shareholders justified? Amazon has announced Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS): a full opening of its logistics network to any business, not just its own marketplace sellers. UPS lost more than 10% in a single day. FedEx …
Amazon’s first quarter 2026 results reveal a company investing heavily in its physical logistics infrastructure, even as that spending compresses free cash flow to near zero. The obsession with improving customers’ lives every day comes at a cost. A big one. Scale and speed Total net product sales reached $296 billion, up by almost 9% …