Internet Grocery Shopping Slowly Gaining Ground

bakreule writes "Online grocery shopping, once the laughing stock of the internet, has quietly started gaining ground. It seemed that the idea had been killed shortly after the bust as being just another bomb. The article has some good interviews and details to show how this industry is developing and whether or not this surprising growth can continue. I'm interested in seeing how grocery product advertising will be affected in this highly competitive industry."

Do it at night.

[corporate_ai]

While this trend may catch on in ultra-urban settings like NYC (where even McDonalds delivers), I can't see it making its way to mainstream America.

For one thing, who wants to pay for delivery? Second, my biggest gripe with grocery shopping was the crowds, which is why I love 24 hour grocery stores... I simply go at midnight.

Keep it to canned goods

[KoriaDesevis]

Otherwise, you are relying on someone else to select meat and produce for you.

Re:Yeah, I'll pick you some NICE tomatoes ;-)

[phoenixTMW]

The thing is, these places WANT to keep your business. Selling you the oldest crap they can get away with selling doesn't work so well for customer retention.

I use this in the UK

[REBloomfield]

And what really, really annoys me, is the 'selective alternatives'. They haven't got a pack of 4 chicken wings, so they give me 2 turkeys. Hey, it's got four wings... okay, I'm exaggerating slightly, but when you can't miss noodling round the store with a trolley buying what you want.... it might be okay for the convenience, but you can't beat real shopping.

personal services

[whovian]

So the economy keeps going in the direction of personal services, it seems.

This is sure to save time...fill out grocery list at work, submit it, the voila! Groceries arrive within a few hours of being home. And it might even limit impulse buying.

Re:Do it at night.

[OECD]

For one thing, who wants to pay for delivery?

You do, if you ever sent out for pizza. (Unless you're a cheap no-tipping bastard.)

Second, my biggest gripe with grocery shopping was the crowds, which is why I love 24 hour grocery stores... I simply go at midnight.

Gee, pay someone a little extra to bring my food to me, or wait 'til MIDNIGHT to go shopping? Tough choice.

Now, if only I could get them to put the groceries away for me I'd be all set.

Re:Online food

[acceber]

The way this is going geeks will never need to leave the house.

And it's the perfect formula for obesity. Food delivered to your door without having to move? At least going out to do the shopping burned a couple of calories.

Re:Do it at night.

[Zilquis]

Trouble with going at midnight is that none of the fresh stuff has been restocked - fruit, vegetables, bread, etc. Also the meat counter, cheese counter, fish counter, deli are closed.

Re:Do it at night.

[TopShelf]

As a father of three little kids (2, 2, and 1) grocery delivery would be a great option. Simply put, it's hard for some people to set aside the time or effort to shop at the grocery, whether due to time demands, physical limitations, etc.

I think part of why so many of these services flopped in the late 90's was that they invested heavily in top-notch infrastructure, and couldn't stretch out their cash long enough to grow into their debt load (as Amazon appears to be doing).

I miss WebVan

[AKAImBatman]

When WebVan was around, they were *extremely* popular. So popular, that everyone would wave at the delivery guy as he drove by. I myself was an extremely happy customer as it saved me from having to carry a lot of groceries home. (I didn't have a car at the time.)

I think that WebVan's problem had less to do with a poor business model, and everything to do with scaling the business way too fast. They burned through a tremendous amount of cash every time they entered a new market. As a result, they were left with very little operating funds. They always figured that they'd be able to get more funding. Unfortunately, you can always count on VC investors to go to extremes. They over funded during the boom, and they simply wouldn't fund at all during the bust.

Re:Online food

[superpulpsicle]

Why does this have to be geeks. Can it be a regular joe wanting food delivered to the front door?

From my understanding not all geeks are fat. In fact geeks most make stick figures look fat.

Re:Keep it to canned goods

[jsgates]

What's the problem with that? I work in a butcher shop in a grocery store, and a lot of people will ask us to pick out their meat for them. They'll tell us what they want, we'll walk them out to the case, and pick out the appropriate piece for them. You don't seem to realize that most people don't know what a good piece of meat, or a good fruit/vegetable looks/feels like, and they want their stuff picked out for them.

Not to mention the lack of taste in most canned goods.

Blind and visually impaired

[alphax45]

My g/f is visually impaired and has many friends that are visually impaired and blind. Because they cannot drive it is often hard for them to get all the groceries they need. Services like this are really helping that segment of the population. They all love it and think it's one of the greatest things ever. It is truely amazing how much you learn (as a fully sighted person) when you interact with people that do not have the luxuary of full sight. Services like these are just another thing that makes their lives much eaiser. I hope they stay around for that fact alone.

Re:Online food

[I am Kobayashi]

I live in Chicago, and it is a pain to lug groceries around the city and then up the elevators to my apartment. The 10 dollar fee or whatever peapod charges is HIGHLY worth it.

Plus the arguments about not leaving the house or obesity are just erroneous. Groceries are healthier than ordering pizza (which is a possibility in pretty much any urban/suburban setting), and for those of us with busy lifestyles, getting your groceries in a two-hour window on a Saturday or Sunday morning while you having your morning coffee and catching up on the news or whatever isn't exactly precluding you from going outdoors :P

I -am- the parent you're talking about

[mccalli]

...and I use online ordering precisely to avoid the hassle you're describing.OI have a two and a half-year old daughter and a seven month old son, and it is a living hell to take them round.

First off, they fall asleep on the way there. Marvellous. So now you have to wake them up before you can get out of the car - that really cheers them up, as you can imagine.

Next up, the trolley has to be perfection. Yesterday's favourite is today's screaming fit, so you must make sure Her Majesty will deign to actually sit in the bloody thing (the son currently gets no say...). You can force the issue, but your ears will suffer.

You then get the fun of said two year old reaching out to every shelf and grabbing what she wants. If you put it back, she grabs it again or screams. Meanwhile my son is just screaming anyway - no apparent reason, unless it's the same one I feel like screaming about as well.

Finally, we get people such as yourself. We know we're pissing you off. We just don't get a choice about it. Some people respond graciously, others stare as if you're utter scum.

Nope, it's online shopping from the parents' point of view too as far as I'm concerned. Chuck 'em a fiver, and let the delivery people handle it all. It's a good deal for both me and you, it would seem.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:It's already taken ground in England

[herrison]

And that five quid for delivery? You get it back by not being tempted to pick stuff up that you hadn't planned on.

Re:I -am- the parent you're talking about

[Suidae]

As a parent of 5 I understand what you are talking about, and I can also say that you really ought to train that bratty behaviour outta yer kid. No offense, but bad behaviour from a kid is usually not the kids fault.

It is amusing to me to see the different reactions people have to a bratty kid though. People at Wal-mart either just ignore you or are sympathetic. Now, try that at the local hippy foods store, Whole Foods or Wild Oats or whatever. People stare and roll their eyes like you have horns sprouting from your forehead.

Re:I -am- the parent you're talking about

[DarkMagician07]

I have 2 kids, 1 is 5yrs old, the other just turned 1yr old a couple days ago. Fortunately, I have never had this problem. I taught my daughter to not reach out towards the shelves before she turned 2. It wasn't that hard, but I did get a lot of stares from people around me.

I wasn't beating my kid (that's bad, and should never be done!!!!). Instead, I used the 'distract' method. If my daughter grabbed towards a shelf, I would drop her toy in her lap and say 'no grabbing'. Of course, this means having a toy with you at all times, but after a while, it works wonders. When she was 2 1/2, we stopped using the toy and relied on just 'no grabbing'. Believe it or not, it worked wonders.

The reason people looked at myself and my wife funny when we did this was because we were sharp about the tone when we said it. They thought we were slapping wrists, or spanking the kid (which did happen, as physical pain from a handslap is sometimes required).

Might want to give something like that a try next time you are at the store.

Re:Do it at night.

[Some Woman]

It's a flat $10 delivery fee, which is WELL worth the money when you consider the time you save driving to the store, pushing a cart around...

I would probably save more than $10 on impulse buys alone. I'm sure you spend less if you have to actually think about what you're putting in your cart, especially if you have little kids.

Re:Online food

[nolife]

I know your $10-15 mentioned was only an example but grocery shopping for very specific items is a lot of work. You are talking at least two hours from starting with the cart until you are at their house, add the time to process orders, get back to the grocery store blah blah. If the grocery store manages the process, they can supply the car painted with their advertisments, push other products and services, use existing employees to load up the carts etc.. Imagine a third party delivering pizza hut pizza for $1-2. It would not be profitable unless you value add something else.

It is a good idea but a grocery store will always have an economic advantage to any third party for this service.