Grocery retailer Ahold’s Dutch Albert Heijn operation intends to create an online marketplace.

The retailer plans to add non-food items such as books, clothes and home entertainment products to its albert.nl online grocery assortment in order to follow its ‘six-pillar’ strategy presented last autumn.

Ahold spokesman Jochem van de Laarschot said an acquisition would be a useful tool to achieve that aim. Recently, there was speculation that online non-food retailer Wehkamp would be a perfect match for Ahold and a potential target for acquisition.