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Dino shows the antidote to staff shortages
Another big question mark is what assortment will prevail on the platform. Biedronka started with a non-food offer, similarly to Lidl, which sells mainly its own brands online, strengthening their awareness with campaigns, e.g. with Arnold Szwarceneger (Parkside brand).
When it comes to competition with giants such as Allegro, Amazon or local e-commerce platforms, they are not exactly a threat to Dino. This Polish company has a large network of stores and will probably want to use it to optimize the supply chain. At the end of the day, just like in the offline reality, in the digital reality, Dino's biggest competitor will be Biedronka.
An interesting thread is the maintenance-free format implemented by Dino together with MAGO. This is a well-known concept that is being tested by many retailers around the world. Dino's proprietary solution combines a robotic micro-logistics center with a panel for the end customer.
We implemented a similar format as a pilot a few years ago in Paris for the French branch of the Carrefour chain together with Retail Robotics. Another company from Poland provided this type of magazines for the quick-commerce formats of the Żabka group chain.
These types of solutions have a great future, especially if they become an integral part of an existing store. I can imagine that in a few years the warehouse part will be fully automated and will simultaneously service store employees for faster stocking, couriers delivering purchases to home, but also the final drive-thru customer.
The rate of return on such a robotic "back-office" fulfilling three functions simultaneously may be much more attractive than separating them in separate formats.
How can Dino build a sustainable competitive advantage? I think it's much too early to answer this question. What is surprising to me is the fact that such a large retailer still does not build digital communication tools with customers. Many much smaller chains already have their own mobile applications and loudly boast about their benefits.
Elevating the relationship with the brand beyond a store visited 2-3 times a week seems to be an obvious step now. For some reason, Dino still hasn't done it. Both in the context of unattended stores and e-commerce platforms, making these services available to smartphone owners through a personalized mobile application enhanced with a loyalty program is an absolute must-have nowadays.
