Slashdot Mirror
Step 2, Groceries
prostoalex writes "Fortune magazine runs an article on New York - based FreshDirect, provider of high-quality groceries. Unlike Webvan, which failed with $1B of venture capital, FreshDirect seems to make pretty good money off online grocery sales - revenues of $225M are projected by 2004. The minimum order is set at $40, the company also charges $4 for delivery." If you want to check out their store, try zip code 10022.
and begs the question: How can I get my product/service/ideology advertised on Slashdot for free?
-dameron
Step 3: ???
Step 4: PROFIT!!
Touché!
Their little icons are really nice. Somebody should make them into Mac OS X icons.
sh
"[A] high IQ is like a Jeep; you will still get stuck, just farther from help!" --Just d' FAQs, c.g.a
I live in Boston and have been using Peapod (Stop and Shop) ever since homeruns.com shut down.
Any word on the future of peapod? It seems to be doing a good business.
As far as having groceries delivered, it's a very nice thing to have, and I personally don't mind the $4 or $5 extra that it is looking like will be charged to deliver groceries (especially on my monthly order of $200).
Next thing you know we'll be able to order our dates online
The article seems to praise the company and it's good fortune, yet it lists no negative remarks. Personally, I would not buy from a food store online, just because I don't know *EXACTLY* what I'm getting. I'd be afraid that if this food was not properly packaged and delivered properly, that I could get some kind of disease or eat some bacteria that was growing on the food. Well.....who cares about stuff like that, 25% less in cost saves you a lot of money!
- - - - - Fear not the reaper, but my shiny white teeth.
The major supermarkets in the UK have been doing this for at least 4 years. What's new?
All of a sudden they have tons of potential new customers in area code 10022.. At least thats what the web log says.. Hope they aren't filling warehouses based on that info, or they could suffer the webvan fate.
air and light and time and space
Step 1, ???
Step 2, Groceries
Step 3, PROFIT!!!
"The lesson to be learned is not to take the comments on slashdot too literally." --Vinnie Falco, BearShare
Step 1, ??? Step 2, Groceries Step 3, Story on /.
Step 4, Not so much profit, because of consulting fee to bring back /.ed server to life
Don't forget to think different.
It certainly begs the question, dumbass..
Or do you need to be schooled on "common usage"?
Please don't "beg the question" on that issue..
-dameron
Many people don't own cars there, because of hard to find parking. And when you don't own a car, buying groceries in mass quantities is difficult, not to mention time consuming. Try doing YOUR grocery shopping without a car for the next month, let's see how you fare. Unless the store is literally within 4 blocks, you will find that carting 2 typical bags back to your house is a very time consuming chore. The fee this company charges is minor, especially in New York! I would kill for such a service here in Memphis. I currently am without a car. A backpack can only carry so many items. Like I say, try doing it without your car.
newsweek had a similar story in last week's issue about more traditional brick 'n mortar grocery stores going online
the thing with them, though, is that they already have a ton of locations and are in no rush to scale up their web orders: they already are in the black on the retail front and want to slowly and cautiously roll out the web strategy
they also have an edge over the online start-ups through name recognition: it's a lot easier getting somebody who already shops at your store to try something new, rather than risk it on some company they've never heard of.
i couldn't find the link at the Newsweek site, but the issue may still be on shelves at stores around the country until monday or tuesday
I lived in Sydney, Australia, a couple of years ago. I tried a service called 'ShopFast'. It was the first time i'd used such a service, the main reason i was giving it a try was because i was too lazy to go and get groceries myself.
After ordering and waiting a couple of days, It was delivered and what impressed me was that I could pay by EFTPOS by use of a mobile EFTPOS terminal.
It was cheap, fast and I didnt have to go outside. Perfect for the geek that I am.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
Actually it's pretty smart. If it was just a popup add or banner, we could block it with an entry in our hosts file.
Ad Placements^H^H^H^HStories are a little harder to block.
Other news sites do this already, you just likely don't notice it. CNN does it all the time. I know CTV Newsnet in Canada does it on the air more than once per day.
occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
Alright humor aside :), I think this would be perfect to people who either
That being said, It make me wonder how human interaction will take place when we're all doing our everyday errands from the comfort of our own home....
Join the TWIT army now!
despite my tolerance for anything improved by technology, somethings should just left be to do the hard way. And that includes walking/driving/riding to the grocery store. However, I suppose I am just whining because we don't have it yet.
Because I dont live in a HUGE city (NYC/LA), buying localized goods online is tough. I really wish that these kinds of companies would get more geographically diverse service, though I know its tough in such businesses.
:)
This especially rocks for 3 reasons:
1) Shopping cart I can actually view things -- never forget something. If I do? Append it to the order!
2) No more hunting for lost items -- Where Oh Where do they keep the spices? Just enter the spice name in search and click to add. I love this!
3) Quick -- It's hard to multitask in the grocery store, Its much easier to shop while programming or doing non-productive things (like reading slashdot).
Anyone who wouldent pay $4 for this is nuts, IMHO. All I can ask, is that one of these companies opens up a ROCHESTER NY branch
...both Safeway (might be IE-only) and Albertsons deliver groceries. Both charge a $9.95 delivery fee and deliver from local stores.
I must admit, though, that I'd rather see a startup company doing this than the already-established grocery stores. I was a happy Webvan customer, and I still think the model is quite viable. (Plus, I love the FreshDirect site design.) Here's hoping FreshDirect or a similar company takes a stab at this here in the Bay Area!
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
There's no reason to not be. Laziness is a rapidly growing problem now, thanks to the online world. Now, not only laziness is a problem, but obesity is growing faster more than ever.
I personally think people should go to the grocery store, get out of their car, and walk a bit to shop. It won't hurt them, and is actually more health for them.
The fact that we can do PLENTY of tasks online is presenting a problem. America already is the most obese county, and online shopping WILL NOT help the problem!
- - - - - Fear not the reaper, but my shiny white teeth.
Dude, when ACs and the OED differ, I'm going with the OED.
btw, it's asshats like you what make posting online such a pain in the ass.
-dameron
Step 2, Groceries
Step 3, PROFIT!!!
Read the fscking summary, dude! Michael already said that.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Or is the real story here:
"There's a very small market for pricey service delivered to the highly prized wealthy/lazy/immobile demographic..."?
-dameron
Unfortunately for you, the AC is correct. To raise a question is to do exactly that. To beg a question is to commit a logical fallacy of circular reasoning, usually by assuming X, then reasoning your way towards proving X is true. However, the reasoning depends on X being true already, thus the fallacy.
Here's a good directory, as it were, of failures of logical thinking, and the names given to them: http://gncurtis.home.texas.net/index.html (uses frames). It points out the exact mistake you persist in defending.
I suspect you don't actually own a copy of the OED, because in my experience people who do are sticklers for correctness. I would sooner believe that the AC (modded down by a moron, more's the pity) owns a copy.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
The people who buy food in bulk do so in order to save money and time. You have to take time every day in order to get your food, I only need to do this once every two weeks and it takes less than two hours. The last thing I want to do on the way home from work is stop at a bunch of stores in order to make dinner.
Bring on the online grocery thing.
This is one of those truly awesome ideas that just makes so much sense. Online shopping could be such a boon, especially to people in my demographic, busy parents who buy a lot of food but don't have the time to spend in the store and are tired of fighting to keep the kids riding in one of those carts.
But... I've been saying that since 1997. Peapod was a great idea. WebVan, great idea. I've never tried any of them and I'm a died in the wool geek and early adopter and all of that. I don't know why I've not tried them but I just haven't and I expect that there are a lot of people like me who won't be trying it anytime soon.
It's just really hard ot get people to change something as basic and as feral as food shopping.
If electricity is produced by electrons is morality produced by morons?
Hey, Michael--
Get this, revenue != profit. Revenue is the money you take in, profit is the amount that's left after you pay your expenses. So a projection of a few hundred million in revenue in a few years doesn't say diddly about how feasible a business this will..
Oh, wait a minute, you're a VA Linux employee. Nevermind. I've already gone way over your head--sorry for confusing you with all these tricky details about "business". Sorry for the bother.
VI
PS: Eminem is a sucka!
no. we're all fucked and doomed. You've described my life pretty well.
What does this have to do with the story, though? Except that now you'll have one less reason to leave the computer.
I suggest going cold turkey on the computer. Ask the wife to help you.
evanchik.net
In Vancouver, BC, a company called SPUD has been doing online orders for a long time.
As far as I know, it's been profitable for a long while, and has been constantly expanding outside of the 'downtown' areas to the suburbs. Great food, good service, decent prices and very convenient.
I actually think these kinds of small local/regional operations are the most interesting successes of the dot-com era- it allows a very small company with a very targeted niche to be able to compete with larger supermarkets. Things don't always have to be national/global to take advantage of the internet.
Ok, so I'm just a "Brand Ambassador" but I have been around the office and such. Their $50 free food promotion really catches people off guard. We really are just giving you $50 to try us free with no delivery charges.
While there are brick and mortor grocery stores that delivery, I gotta say the food I've been picking up from the warehouse beats anything else. I guess there is some truth in the fact that what they get does cut out the middleman making things fresher. The pastries are great. MMMmmmmm pastries, especially the fruit tart.
Plus I like getting the already cooked meals by gourmet chefs at rather dirt cheap prices.
Anyway, just thought some would like to know how the food is coming from there.
Also we're rolling out very slowly, we're not trying to cover the entire city at once. This was Kosmo's mistake as well as Peapods. It looks like we'll be doing well in the future, just wish it was going to be publicly traded. Oh well, I'll settle for the food I've been getting.
-- taking over the world, we are.
$225M, small change. Tesco.com turns over $560M, a great service for when you really cannot be bothered.
I wonder if I can start up an escort service named FreshMeatDirect without being sued...
I live 1.3 miles from Kroger (closest grocery). There are no fruit stands, no butchers, or magical food genies on the "way back", as you so quaintly it. Everything must be bought at that location (as far as my living situation is). The high priced Circle K and Exxon on the route aren't an option, plus all they carry is the bare neccesities, at highway robbery prices. I don't buy just enough items for the meal, as you apparently do. Not only is that time consuming (that would take 45 minutes out of every day - 15 minutes each way, 15 minutes to buy - just for a meal), but fiscally wasteful. Items cost more when you buy them in the smallest portion. Maybe you're a rich guy, but most of us aren't. I eat everything I buy, rarely do I waste any food. Also, I like making my own food, and I like the savings that come from it. And taking the bus? That would involve me taking off from work to catch one of the 2 stops on the route that would make it feasible for me to use. Understand, not EVERYBODY has a neighborhood layout as convenient as yours.
Plus, on the way home from work for me involves crossing the street, it's not like I can just pick up stuff on the way.
My thought is that this would be perfect for stay-at-home moms. Would you really want to take your two kids (both under five) to the supermarket and have to divide your time between actually shopping and making sure your kids weren't getting into everything/fighting/throwing tantrums etc? If you have a set list every week, you could use a service like this to get your main groceries, and then only go out for things you don't always get, or get at difference sources (say your produce at a farmer's market) And I agree: $4-5 on a 200 order really isn't much; the delivery would pay for itself in terms of time & convenience
1.Surfing the interweb 2.???^H^H^H[b]GROCERIES![/b] 3.PROFIT!!!
... Grocery Gateway has been around for a couple of years. I've had good luck with them though it is a bit pricey. Still, when the weather is bad I've found the service quite convenient.
Ok, to get this strait, I have a firm grasp of what you and the the AC thinks "begs the question" means, or, should I say, used to mean several decades ago. As it stands there is nothing inappropriate about using "begs the question" in the fashion mentioned, -especially in this forum-.
(Note my not so standard use of the dash. Or the parenthesis, or, -Hades- this entire aside! Not to mention my entire lack of completing a sentence!)
Yet none of this could possibly detract you from my point, and my meaning is clear.
You're being far too formal.
A quick cut and past job to set your mind at ease:
Many people unaware of the technical meaning of "to beg the question" in logic use it in one of two looser senses. The first of these, "to evade the question, to duck the issue", is attested since 1860 (WDEU). The second, "to invite the obvious question, (with an inanimate subject) to raise the question", is now the most commonly
heard use of the phrase, although we have found no mention of it prior to The Oxford Guide to English Usage, 1st edition (1983)."
My emphasis, of course. So it appears this issue was settles sometime in the 80s. Or 80's, both are equally correct.
Especially in this forum.
-dameron
NO MOUNTAIN DEW!
Ok, I'm legally blind, so I will never be able to drive, ever and I hate hearing people whine about how life is impossible without a car. Ok now that that's out of the way, from the sounds of things all you've tried is nothin' and you're all out of ideas. Have you considered:
:-D
-A taxi cab?
-Calling your friend for help?
-Mass transit?
-A bicycle with a rear storage bin?
-Buying your groceries as you need them?
For me a trip to the grocery store is almost a daily occurrance. If I can't walk or bike to where I want to go I get a bus, or if I'm in real need a taxi. Of course this means you have to keep a running inventory of your groceries so you know what you need before it runs out.
My solution to this problem was to write a little app that allows me to record what I have and when it entered the system. From there I generate a report that I can print out for myself that includes information on useage frequency, average quantity purchased, average price, item importance and critical low stock notification. Yeah, I spend more time sorting my stuff when I get back from shopping, but I don't often run out of anything and the system was capable of supporting at least four people.
New features I might add are an internet-based interface and WAP device capabilities so If anyone else goes to the store I can get a new report on my phone or before I leave work thru the net! (Also, since I buy a lot of the same products over and over I could monkey around with a barcode reader maybe).
So to sum all this junk up:
Just because you don't have a car doesen't mean you aren't allowed to use your brain to solve a problem
crazy dynamite monkey
His store must be 2 blocks away. What's even more scary is he thinks there is a food store 2 blocks from everyone in the USA.
Do you think everyone in the USA is within a 4 block radius of a grocery? It's not the walk that's the problem, but when just getting the items for one meal takes up to an hour just to procure (via walking), then a better more time effcient method is needed. Flex some common sense.
We've had online stores in the uk for about a year now, maybe 18months. Initially, I think Tesco started off with a home delivery service, and its still going strong.
Later, other large stores have joined in the fun, incluing Asda (recently bought by WalMart), Sainsburys, and others (that I can't think of right now).
So really, I don't see how this is news for everyone.
Dirk stood in the Stanley
For the last two years I lived in Toronto and enjoyed grocery deliveries by Grocery Gateway. They serve the whole Greater Toronto Area, have a similar minimum order requirement (C$60), and charge a delivery fee of up to $8 depending when you schedule your delivery.
The selection was incredibly good, the food was always fresh, and I was quite pleased with their customer service.
It goes to show you that you can, indeed, be successful selling groceries online, if you play your cards right...
I don't know what kind of revenue they pull in but Simon Delivers has been doing this same kind of thing in the Twin Cities metro area (Minnesota) for a few years now. They have fast delivery, their products are good quality, and they accept coupons...delivery groceries seems to work pretty well, IMHO.
I suggest going cold turkey on the computer.
:)
Yeah, either that or find another teen pron site and enjoy the slide into hell/depravity
In the UK most of the major supermarkets have internet shopping. For 5 quid you get it delivered to your door in a refrigerated van.
Despite how cool this whole idea sounds, we still trudge down to the actual store, pick the stuff by hand and get a cab back (which costs about 4 quid).
Why ? Well we tried it several times from different supermarkets and each time something was wrong - things missing, food with a same-day sell-by date and the van turning up hours late...a right bugger if you were staying in to wait for it. The missing items were either just missing or marked "out of stock". We refuse to believe that the supermarket has run out of bread and bananas.
So we'd have to go to the shops anyway to pick up the missing stuff anyway.
Also, they will select replacement items if something is out of stock if you wish. However the selection is usually made by the store surrealist and not too helpful. Sorry, we're out of cheese, so we have selected some curry powder and a mop as a replacement.
The United States is _designed_ so you need a car to go shopping, which few exceptions (Manhattan being one of them). Where I have lived, I have always been able to get my groceries on foot, and we're not talking 7-11s here, we're talking real grocery stores.
I have not only done my shopping without a car for a full month, but for, say, ten years. Sure, it's a ten-minute walk to the store. So what? It takes me longer to get to and from the garage anyway.
The real killer is grocery stores in the subway stations, where you can pick your stuff up on your way from work without a minute of detour. I haven't used them, though, as I prefer to walk to a store, even if it's a mile or so away.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned tesco.com yet. It's the world's largest online grocery delivery service, with revenues of over $560m last year, and it's running an operating profit. They've just started expanding out of the UK and have launched in the US in a partnership with Safeway. The unique thing about them is that rather than have a huge distribution centre somewhere, they make use of their existing bricks and mortar infrastructure. When you place an order, it gets sent through to your nearest store where a member of staff goes and picks it off the shelf for you, and it's delivered the next day (within a 2 hour timeslot you request, too). I've been using them for a while now, and have few complaints (other than a few IE-isms on the web site).
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
Tesco UK have an ordering site optimised for PDAs and other small screen devices.
It's so easy to walk into the kitchen and see what I need, then order with an 802.11b enabled PDA.
Walmart is killing all the grocers. It is inevitable, that all but the specialized niche players will fall to the retailing king.
Walmart's super stores will put them all outta business, even the delivery guys because as soon as WMT enters that business (which they may be already doing in some markets --- anybody know?), it'll be another slaying with Walmart out as king.
Real men don't need signitures!!!
Oh my GOD! We have a huge influx of people in the 10022 zip code. We need to double our infractruscture there.
Six months later: You're fired! The sales never panned out.
Who says they got this ad for free?
My company created an on-line grocery shop, three years ago. We got the contract from an association of grocery merchants here in Vilanova, near Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Nihil novum sub sole...
Strength, balance, courage and reason. If you know what's this about, contact me!
In the UK this has been happening for the best part of the last two years.
Unsurprisingly it is big stablished companies who have been providing this service. It took them a while to realize why this is good, but when they finally got around it they got it right.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
No particular relevance to the story, I just thought slashdot around 2:30am would be a pretty good place to look for advice in this regard.
And on that note, thanks for the [en|dis]couragement.
It takes me longer to get to and from the garage anyway.
I could see where that would be a discouragement for vehicle ownership. Do they require vehicle parking to be on one end of town and the residential area the other?No, though I think that there are good arguments for integrating a barcode scanner into PDAs.
PCs preloaded with linux and running the shitty grocery stores out of business. Gotta love it!
Slashdot editors, excuse me, but this sounds alot like a story submitted by an astroturfer... geeks aren't all that interested in supermarkets, except when they want pizza and Pitr Cola.
This business model failed in Europe already.. ppl here want to grap, fell and smell the shit they're supposed to eat before paying for it... but maybe that's the future when the population grows on like this we might not be allowed to step on the streets anymore..
in Toronto callled grocery gateway that provides the same service at comparable prices... and not only has it secured a large amount of investment it has been around since about 1997 and is growing successfully.
(no this is not an advertisment)
I've been buying online from Sainsbury's (www.sainsburys.co.uk) for most of this year - on the insistence of non-geek friends who told me how convenient the service is - and I'm very happy with their operation.
If you don't like a substitution you can always get them to change it, or check the paperwork at delivery time and refuse to accept it. I have had a few problems but the overall convenience of the service far outweighs them. In any case they do seem to be learning as they go along, and the service seems to be steadily improving.
Toby Poynder
London UK
Extreme rural Mexico. Grocery time involved a 30 mile car trip (2 legs, in an "l" shaped path) to the city. Walking (or horse riding) a direct route via rough country with no traveled paths(probably 13 miles) was not an option. The coyotes, scorpions and rattlesnakes kinda have a way of putting a crimp into that.
You guys retired at your peak.
Is that not the case in the US? Don't the main supermarkets do this as standard?
Cheers,
Ian
Troy
We, here in Istanbul/Turkey have an online grocery for 4 years!
Its Koc holdings "migros" grocery (joint venture with swiss migros) and works well, they even deliver stuff 2-3 hours later, WITHOUT any fee.
http://online.migros.com.tr/index_sanal.html (in turkish)
Also they use those cool GSM credit card machines so you don't have to give your CC over the net.
I don't understand the big deal. I mean, if it was a VRML or VR shop you bought stuff by actually walking around on browser (yes a UK company exist), it would be big news, but whats the deal with this one?
"Just in time" is ok for non essentials, but for necessities like food it is a tad more prudent to have more than a meal or two's worth on hand. Try having a few weeks minimum in case of an emergency or disaster, etc, along with some water. It might not have ever happened to you, not yet, but it's happened to unmpteen zillion people in the planet's history that unforseen things occur and you might not be able to "stop by" and grab that daily suply. At least have some basics that could last. This is sincere advice, it's my primary avocation, this subject. Survival/preparedness issues. It applies to poor and rich, nerds to luddites, it doesn't matter, never forget you are a carbon based life form with "needs" as opposed to "wants".
We have here short term fresh foods, medium term storage "normal" grocery foods, and very long term stored food, in addition to our vegetable garden. and I've always had that-more or less-since my late teens,including times of no vehicle and either walking or taking ten speed every where. It's doable. Modern delivery and being able to use the internet for food is a good thing, and you can get excellent quality food delivered to your door, from major urban to out in the boonies, anyplace a fedex or ups or a UPS person can make it.
The deal is you can do both, it doesn't have to be either/or. You can do daily light shopping for fresh, but for sure don't neglect basics and have at least some weeks or a months worth-a realistic month-on hand at all times.
Doesn't "Projected" revenues mean that it's not really there?
And companies today that were around before the boom, and are still around today, have nightmares trying to get small reinvestments and loans cuz they're the dreaded "IT COMPANIES".
Way to go on making it work FreshDirect.
---
When I grow up, I want to be a kid again.
Is a legally blind person allowed to ride a bicycle on the road in the US? Sorry if this a silly question...
thousands of home-bound people starve to death as we slashdot the FreshDirect server into oblivion.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Here in Chitown, we are served by the magic of Peapod. Having groceries delivered directly to my apartment has literally changed my life in the city. Not having a car meant that I had to schlep my groceries by hand from the nearest store (about 3/4 mile--it's a lot when you've got arms full of bags) or use mass transit. It also meant that I could never buy more than about 5 days worth of food--simply because that's all I could carry.
To all the naysayers out there that say "Eh, you lazy fuck, I can't believe you have your groceries delivered" I have this to say: screw you. I cook almost every night and having to carry food by hand across the city or rely on a friend with a car is simply out of the question. A bi-monthly peapod delivery makes sure that I don't have to worry about running out of food.
Before I signed up, I held on to my receipts from the grocery stores around town to compare. The prices are no more expensive than any other store, and sometimes cheaper. As long as I order $100 or more, delivery is $5 (plus a tip to guy that hauls my food up 2 flights of stairs). All non-perishable goods are stored in their warehouses (which is how the keep overhead low, methinks) but all fresh foods are picked up from local markets and suppliers to area restaurants.
Peapod rocks. Having your groceries delivered to your house/apartment ROCKS. Shopping for groceries in my PJ's from my home ROCKS.
My other computer is your Windows box
Yes a "legally blind" person can.
A completely blind person shouldn't attempt it.
BTW "Legally blind" simply means your visual acuity falls below a certain point even with corrective lenses.
http://www.icbvi.state.id.us/DEFBLIND.HTM
Like many New Yorkers I am just waiting till January when freshdirect services my zipcode. It might look like a startup but its run by one of the best Grocers in the buisness. He help create Fairway the grocery store so good it has rich white people driving up to the industrial part of Harlem to get international cheese and Olives. The story is such a NYC success story that It was featured in the way too New York sit com welcome to New York before it go canceled. Also NYC is used to delivery. And no tipping policy means that cost of delivery ($5) its essentialy free delivery. Quick link about his previous venture, in delivery. http://www.newyorkmetro.com/urban/guides/bestofny/ services/00/BONY2000_services_grocery_delivery.htm
Basically he already has a brand that is the best of breed. Fairway. A dense market. Minimum required order.
And hungry people.
And at prices 20% below he can raise them with no problem.
New Yorkers don't have cars so going 1 mile to get what you want is a trial.
50 years ago, one could simply telephone the butcher, baker or grocer and he'd send a boy round on a bike the same afternoon...
Jesus, think about the restructuring that will surely befall the Underpants Gnomes now! Now that step 2 has been revealed, we see a twisted chain of events that includes, incredulously, food and kid's hanes - together. I forsee massive underpants gnome layoffs in the near future as the public gets wise to their filthy brand of food degredation.
Many people in the Twin Citeis area have found satisfaction with SimonDelivers.
Their interface is great and the prices aren't bad. I see SimonDelivers trucks all over the place every day. They must be doing OK. In fact, I need to go finish up this week's grocery list. MMMMMM..steak.
Some poeple in my state use one if the Kroger chains. They've been filling web orders for years. Not as much variety as webvan. But they already had the infrastructure.
nuff sedd
learn from yesterday, plan for tomorrow, party tonight
or one out of three ain't bad
I was a very happy customer, they waived the delivery fee if you're order was > $100, which was not too hard to do, especially since they had a nice selection of wines and microbrews. Then Webvan bought them and ruined it all. I've tried Safeway's service, but the selection sucks and the delivery fee is exorbitant. I really hope a startup comes in and does what Homegrocer was doing.
Brevity is the soul of wit
-- Polonius
So are you releasing this application of yours as Open Source?
I think all reasonable human beings should be expected to draw the line somewhere. Here's why you shouldn't shop at Walmart, ever:
- They abuse their employees (see also NYT article)
- They destroy the social fabric of neighborhoods
- They engage in capricious censorship (see more here)
- They purchase from overseas suppliers with ZERO regard for the sweatshop conditions under which the materials were manufactured. Even Nike agreed this was reprehensible.
Vote with your wallet. You DO have a choice.One simple rule for its versus it's
I just put in my zip code in Chelsea, 10011. They don't deliver to Chelsea?? What the fuck? Is this some upper east side only venture?
I don't read or respond to AC posts
that'll put your sperm out of service; you won't be polluting the gene pool, thank god.
People don't realize just how much money they could save by investigating alternatives. Its sad how dumb most consumers are.
ROFL
I'm constantly in the grocery story asking myself something like, "Do I need to buy mayonaise?"
Doesn't it seem like grocery stores could offer this as a service? They already track your purchases with the damn discount swipey card. Now they just have to put a Web or SOAP interface on that database so you can pull the data (and integrate it with purchases from other stores). You can know when you last bought something. You could get really slick and have terminals in the store. "Hmm... when did I last buy mayonaise? Let's see."
Of course there are issues:
- Security- Do I care if someone else knows when I last bought mayonaise? Probably not. Do I care if someone else knows when I last bought condoms? Probably. (Or rather how (very) long ago I last bought condoms, but anyway.)
- Utility- This kind of inventory tracking by purchase is only so useful. Things are not always used at a constant rate. For fresh items you could also track by date of spoilage. See below for another idea.
A better system might combine this with a barcode reader over the trash can. Scan the UPC code when you thow away the package. This doesn't work for vegetables, obviously, but it's a start. Combine this with RFIDs and you're golden. Again, except for vegetables, until we invent some seriously genetically modified veggies.-c
"If you are an idealist it doesn't matter what you do or what goes on around you, because it isn't real anyway."-R.P.W.
Sorry, I tried coldturkey on my computer, and it just wasn't the same as freshmeat. ;)
http://www.coldturkey.com/
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See? What did I tell you?!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Having lived in India, Europe and in the US (NYC and in the suburbs), I'd like to add that the plan of the area you live in can decide on the success of online grocery services there. In most traditional town spaces - e.g Amsterdam, East village in nyc, Berlin etc, the grocery supermarket just doesnt exist. For one, there is no parking space. And with the concentrated population in those parts, scattered grocery stores (usually specialty stores) do the work. Within a walking distance, one can access a wide variety of such stores and therefore get your groceries done. For that reason, the Americn version of the superstore doesnt necessarily do well in other countries. Compare this with the US - especially suburbian setups - where distances are large, supermarkets have ample parking space with standardised products. Online groceries make sense here. After all, who would want to drive down for 20 minutes, park, shop, stand in the checkout line just for a pck of cigarettes!
The ISP I work for bought up Webvan's monitors in a bulk purchase - almost all of the screens in the developer and tech support departments have a metal Webvan asset tag on the front. I'm hoping this new company gets some big LCD screens.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
A large grocery company in Quebec has been doing online grocery for more than 6 years now with a pretty good success. You can order pretty much anything you want and they will deliver it to you. All you need to do is to spend 35$ and pay a 3$ delivery fee, which is quite reasonable.
.com's burning cash here...
No capital venture or
They rather use the power of their vast network, so there's most likely a store pretty close to your place. Your order is then dispatched to the closest store and processed. Very efficient, very fast...
-- Leeeter than leet
Step 3, PROFIT!
We are in the Baltimore/Washington Area, :(
and peapod compensates for the insane time
spent on the daily commute. It also makes
financial sense for all involved.
Giant(our food grocery store chain) gets a
scheduled delivery time that comes from
(i believe the shipping terminal warehouse)
instead of having to predict when I will show
up at their store and what I might buy. Fuel
is used from the terminal to our house, instead of to the store added to our fuel going to the store. It make alot of sense,
I just wish we had mass transit with maglevs.
My first thought about peapod was a typical
incredulous "I can get my own damn groceries".
Then my wife wanted to use it, I rethought my
conclusions and realized. That once a week after work we would all go out and spend 3
hours shopping I would do my typical "look how many bags I can carry at the same time trick" and then it was 9 oclock and the evening was shot for doing the other chores around the house, those left over from work, those left over from school, and then oh yeah don't forget you may want to read a bedtime
story to thekids. Uggh Peapod makes time for the other things that only you can attend to.
running a profitable e-business? quite an accomplishment for a such a tiny little man
I don't know for sure, but I think the
economics makes more sense from an established
food distributor. The Peapod in our area
seems affiliated with Giant grocery stores.
I've been assuming that for them the whole
delivering of groceries may actually save them
money. If they pull the groceries from the
regional distribution terminal, not pulling
groceries off of the shelf. If they do that
they reduce the traffic and costs at the local
stores and pull stuff from the distribution
terminal that they know is paid for, instead
of shipping groceries to the local stores that
they project will be bought.
The deli and produce they provide is not as
good, however.
SimonDelivers has been doing this in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for a few years now and they seem to be sucessful at it. From speaking to people who use their service, they say its fast, reasonable in price, etc. SD has also been slowly increasing its coverage area over time.
I mean, when I lived in NY, it was trivial for me to drag myself out of my apt and walk a maximum of 3 blocks to the local food store. I had a lot of variety too... ethnic food, good bakeries, etc.
.awesome. in a suburban area because it's the shopping equivalent of having a real public transportation system. I'm really amazed they are making money in NY. Maybe its just the novelty -- or a lot of Fat Bastard clients.. :-)
Now that I'm in NJ, it's a royal pain in the butt to navigate traffic to get to the closest supermarket (I hate driving). When you finally get there after a bout of white knuckle transportation, the variety consists of 300 types of cheetos.
This service would be
Well... if you've ever been apartment-hunting in New York, you'd know that if a kitchen has a full-size refrigerator (i.e., the type that you find in 90% of homes in America), then it is probably a "luxury apartment." The typical Manhattan apartment has a compact refrigerator (the kind that's a foot shorter and a few inches narrower than usual). I've even seen apartments with "kitchens" that would, anywhere else, be called a "kitchenette" with a dorm-room sized fridge.
FreshDirect may, in fact, not be a service that would work profitably elsewhere. But given that
- In New York, most people don't have cars, and if you do, it is an enormous chore to use it, since you probably had to park a dozen blocks away and it will take half an hour minimum to find a parking space (both near the grocery store and once back at home);
- Kitchens are tiny, just like apartments in general, so there's no room to store quantities of food beyond what you need for a few days;
- A cab round-trip to the store will be $6 minimum, the bus or subway will be $3; and
- Every grocery store in Manhattan will deliver, meaning you do your shopping and then leave your bags with the cashier. The charge is usually $3.95 flat or $1/bag;
the FreshDirect model starts to make a lot more sense. You get to skip the inconvenience of carrying groceries back from the store for the same price as the grocery store--but you don't have to go to the store, either.Another point that hasn't been raised here is that the founder of FreshDirect is the co-founder of Fairway Uptown. Fairway is well known for their amazing produce, spectacular cheese selection, great coffees, and butcher-quality meats and seafood. Many of us Manhattanites make a weekly trek of thirty blocks or more to Fairway to get food of the quality not available at the local supermarket. (To answer several other posters, the days of the corner butcher and green-grocer are largely over in Manhattan, as the high cost of real estate has driven them all out.)
FreshDirect offers Fairway selection and quality without the Fairway travel. This isn't about laziness, it's about equal or greater convenience and greater quality at the same price.
One final point--several people here have said that we "should" be buying groceries once or twice a month. Ignoring the lack of storage/refrigeration space in New York I mentioned earlier, do you guys not eat meat or fish or produce? Even if you buy specifically with an eye towards things that keep, it's pretty hard to buy fresh more than a week ahead, especially if you want to eat healthily.
Now I'm going to make sure that EVERYTHING I buy comes from Wal-Mart.
Well I have another one that I know about in the Florida area, not sure if its anywhere else.
PublixDirect.com zip code 32703 if you want to look at it.
-br0ken
Revenues of $225M doesn't say anything about profit. That's great they're bringing in money, but let's see some profit before we start jumping on their bandwagon.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
I live in lower Manhattan. The grocery stores down here are horrendous! We were one of the first neighborhoods they delivered to. The first order had a $50 credit. My bill for the first order came out to $1 (i went over). On the second order I had a credit for $25 and still free delivery.
Since then, I have used them about 10 times, and so far it has been good. The prices are the same that you would see in a large grocery store in the suburbs. The only problem I have seen is that they don't carry a lot of grocery items i like. They specialize in fresh foods. Since I am not a gourmet chef, I tend to buy the easy to cook items.
I am just happy that I don't have to shop at Gristedes anymore. The thing that bothers me about NYC is that every deli/grocery store claims they are 'gourmet' you'll see the dirtiest slop whole of a store (gristedes) and they will carry 40 different cheeses, 40 different olive oils and nothing else!
I will continue to support fresh direct, but I am skeptical that they will not stay in business. Or if they do, they will raise prices to the NYC going rate which is extortion.
Anyhow, if you are in one of there delivering zip codes (if you are you surely have heard of them) I highly recommend trying them. The delivery people are very nice, and they actually do not accept tips.
In a city like NYC where customer service is second rate, it is nice to see a company like them come around.
Notice: I do not have any relationship with the company; I am merely a new resident of NYC that believes buying groceries for a reasonable price should be a right for everyone.
Tesco.com have been doing this for years in the UK - with no venture capital, and using existing stores instead of specialised warehouses, are the biggest .COM in Europe - they have survived the .COM boom with no hype or fanfare.
Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
NEW YORK, New York. - FreshDirect.com, an online grocer operating in New York City, just announced a sweeping change in its development plans. From now on, the company will focus on serving the zip code 10022, and will carry exclusively soft drink Mountain Dew in stock.
"Our marketing research department has come up with the report on what the customers want", the CEO of FreshDirect.com commented, standing next to a huge beer bottle. "When we were starting, we thought people all around New York wanted good fresh food delivered around the city, but the data shows that 99% of our target market is in the zip code 10022 and all they search for is Mountain Dew drinks. That gave us a signal to reorganize our business. Screw the fresh vegetables and other zip codes. They want Mountain Dew and there are thousands of them in 10022, so that's what we will focus on."
The marketing research department was not available to return the call, but the message on the answering machine claimed that research report was based on 'hard facts' and 'server logs'.
Please tell me more.
But on another note, I do my shopping at midnight, when the old ladies, the soccer mms with screaming kids are AWAY! I go to shop (as quickly as possible, may I add), not to socialize. That's what bars and nudist colonies are for.
Folks in my neighborhood are giddy about Fresh Direct. The trucks are lined up down the block. One complaint: Taking an note from Dell, they deliver everything in huge indestructible cardboard boxes. Their efficiencies apparently involve using one box per department. I have often gotten shipments with 5 boxes, one containing a single yogurt, and another containing a pair of potatoes. They make no attempt to reuse the boxes. I can't imagine this is good for their bottom line, Mother Nature, or the guys who take out the trash in our neighborhood.
and do you know why they will be a success?
Because you don't feel bad buying 5 boxes of Twinkies when shopping in your own home.
Try doing that in a grocery store.
Grocery Gateway
They've been operating for more than two years. They have a minimum of $80 I believe and an $8 delivery charge. I've been using them since they started, works great.
---
I support spreading santorum
This one in Southern California runs on Linux...
Bristol Farms
I don't live in New York. I live in Columbus, GA. I don't drive and the supermarket (and a good one) is two miles away. I have my backpack and a pull cart which slides open to hold about a bag and a half of groceries. The backpack holds frozen items and items that can't ride on the pull cart such as apples. The hardest part of using a pull cart is knowing what can't go in it and seeing that the groceries are packed properly. I live alone and my grocery bill comes to under $40/week. Something like FreshDirect would be a 33% increase in price.
I'm trying their web site out now and seeing how they compare to Publix.
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The name of the game is do they have it? A $40 basket of groceries is a big basket so I'm on a pseudo shopping spree at Fresh Direct. Your results may vary since I don't eat like the typical American....
.49 a pound.
I started out in groceries looking for some herbal tea flavors I can't buy in Columbus, Georgia at my friendly Publix which is our "high class" supermarket. I wanted Strawberry Kiwi and Tangerine Zinger. Fresh Direct came across. Publix does not stock these flavors.
Score: Fresh Direct 2 Publix 0 Money spent at FreshDirect $4.00 I'm 10% of the way to making my minimum.
OK, next I wanted at least one can of Bumblebee canned smoked salmon in oil. FreshDirect does not carry this product.
Score Fresh Direct 2 Publix 1 Money spent at FreshDirect so far still $4.00
OK, I want some sardines if I can't get my smoked salmon in a can. I like Reese hot and spicey or golden smoked or Vigo with lemon. FreshDirect carries neither of these brands and these are hoity toity sardines.
Score Fresh Direct 2 Publix 2 Money spent at FreshDirect still $4.00
OK, canned fish is not FreshDirect's long suit. They are supposed to be a gourmet store. Well do they carry the nutbutters I walk six miles to get from the one decent natural food store here in Columbus? No soynut butter. No almond butter. No cashew butter.
Score: Fresh Direct 2 Publix 2 Country Life 2
Money spent at FreshDirect still $4.00
Now FreshDirect is supposed to have wonderful cheese. I would like some of that nice port wine cheese spread or some cheddar flavored with port wine. This is one I get from Atlanta at the DeKalb Farmer's market. I also used to be able to buy it in the local large supermarket when I lived in Upstate New York. You can guess the score...and what's worse there is no smokey cheddar either. Publix has smoked cheddar though the current piece in my freezer is from the DeKalb Farmer's Market. Fresh Direct has absolutely no flavored cheddar cheeses. Publix usually has several flavors.
Score Fresh Direct 2 Publix 3 DeKalb Farmer's Market 3 Country Life 1 Money spent, still $40.00
Now in all fairness Fresh Direct has gouda cheese and havarti with caraway seeds. Let me buy half a pound of each of these so I spend at least a little money. These are second and third choice items.
Score: Fresh Direct 3 Publix 3 DeKalb Farer's Market 3 and Country Life 1 Money spent at FreshDirect $8.00 (The cheese cost me $4.00 for two half pound blocks.)
OK, on to the holy of holies. The produce department. Fresh Direct is supposed to be good at this and buying produce in a Southern supermarkets is a disappointment for a Yankee like me. Here we go.... I want a winter squash, a white onion, a 1lb bag of carrots, a cabbage, some fresh dill, and some scallions, and an anise, and a daikon radish. What can you do for me Fresh Direct? For the winter squash, a nice hubbard is my first choice and a kobacha is my second choice. OK, how does the produce stand up?
Publix has a kobacha squash, carrots, onions. It sometimes doesn't have scallions or dill but only sometimes. It almost never has anise or daikon that is worth taking home. The daikon is made of rubber.
Fresh Direct has kobacha squash (second choice and small too!), carrots, anise, daikon, dill, cabbage, white onion, scallions. I'd really like savoy cabbage instead of the plain stuff so let's see how they do on this. They have it and at a very reasonable
OK, the scores is now FreshDirect 11 Publix 7 DeKalb Farmer's Market 10 and country Life NA. Money spent $17.00 Well I'm nearly half way to my quota and I'm exhausted.
I'll need some bread to eat with the cheese. The canned fish and nut butter have to come from elsewhere. I would like a pound of dried beans, preferably Goya pink beans, a loaf of Arnold 100% whole wheat bread, and a 2lb bag of brown rice. Let's see how Fresh Direct does.
Looks like they don't carry Arnold, but they carry Wonder's 100% whole wheat which is more or less as good. There are no dried pink or lima beans or split peas. There are dried pinto beans. There is also brown rice. Total spent for these three items $4.00 and the beans invovled a second choice.
Fresh Direct 12 Publix 8 Amount of money spent so far $21.00
OK life is not complete without some fruit. I'd love a bag of ida red apples, having not seen them in Georgia this year. Note: the apple harvest in the northeast was a disaster. Publix bats a zero on this. No Ida-Reds at FreshDirect either but they do have Cortlands. I'll buy three pounds. Let's see in this part of the world a 3lb bag of apples holds a dozen pieces of fruit. Whoah $10.00 for a dozen Corland apples! What happened. Clearly the apples in the three pound bag don't exist at FreshDirect.
Fresh Direct 11 Publix 8 Amount of money spent so far... $31.00 (I got ripped off!)
Now here is one I bet fresh direct does not have, a nice cheap brand of mayo, yes the real industrial strength stuff. I buy this stuff and like it. Helman's is tasteless. Yup no El Cheapo Mayo. Another strike out.
Fresh Direct 11 Publix 9 Amount of money spent so far still $31.00
OK, I want some string figs. That royally priced bag of monstrous apples won't last the week. Let's see if Fresh Direct can come thorugh. Now Publix has these in stock so they get a point. Dried fruit in the south is not always easy to get. FreshDirect being a New York store has its own dried fruit department. I wonder if the kalmyra figs will be astronomically priced. The figs are about twice what I pay in Columbus. There is no less expensive choice. Well that was a fast way to blow $6.00 Rip me off like that and you don't get your point!
Fresh Direct 11 Publix 10 Amount of money spent $37.00 I got ripped off again!
OK, I want some Birdseye frozen pepper stir fry mix. I also wouldn't mind a bag of frozen soy beans or edamamme. I can get both of these in Columbus for $1.50/bag and $3.00/bag respectively, though the edamamme come from Country Life. Let's go! Edamamme that are not shucked don't count. The pods are stringy. Strike one! And the multi colored frozen peppers from Birdseye are also missing. Ding!
Fresh Direct 11 Publix 11 Amount of money spent is holding at $37.00. I was sure I would make my quota.
OK, fish at Fresh Direct is supposed to be great. Of course it is all fresh. This is not always so great given that fish has a very short shelf life. Now I have a hunch I'm going to bomb out here because I am a bit on the budget minded side. I'd like some hoki or hake filets, nice white fish that is not outrageously priced. Well they have some tilapia at $5.39 a pound. I'm going to buy a whole pound of this stuff. I bought three portions for $8.00 and I'm over quota. I can obtain tilapia fresh at Publix when it goes on sale for about this price and they have frozen fish in sealed packages as well.
Fresh Direct 12 and Publix 12....It's a tie???
It's no tie. Fresh Direct loses here's why.....
Yes, they have a decent vegetable selection. Many items I can't get at Publix are at Fresh Direct.
Outside of that though, troubles begin. Items I like are either missing as in canned fish or nut butter or only the most expensive versions of an item are available. The apples are some fantastic fancy grade that weigh almost a pound a piece. The figs came in at a whopping $6.00 a pound instead of the $2.59 I pay for a 14oz string. Then there are the missing flavored cheddars. These are not the most expensive cheese and I had to look hard to find the red wax gouda.
I was also real generous to FreshDirect. I did not go hunting for chili sauce (I want thousand island on my cole slaw and I make my own) and they'd bomb out on that. I would guess they don't carry kasha either.
I think FreshDirect needs to cater to a clientele of more modest means. It would not be so hard to fill a $40 grocery basket if I had a second person in my household, but I don't always want or need top shelf items. I was not happy with Fresh Direct's selection except for produce. I had to work very hard to make that $40 quota and I made it only because I got ripped off twice. I have a hunch if I lived in New York City or Atlanta I could get the cheeses and canned fish I wanted without much problem. As it is, I still do better at Publix.
I know this was a long post but you should try a shopping trip of your own and see what it feels like.
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An argument that improperly assumes as true the very point the speaker is trying to argue for is said in formal logic to "beg the question." Here is an example of a question-begging argument: "This painting is trash because it is obviously worthless." The speaker is simply asserting the worthlessness of the work, not presenting any evidence to demonstrate that this is in fact the case. Since we never use "begs" with this odd meaning ("to improperly take for granted") in any other phrase, many people mistakenly suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked--raises the question. If you're not comfortable with formal terms of logic, it's best to stay away from this phrase, or risk embarrassing yourself.
They were pretty good, but small, and were soon swallowed by Peapod. Just for a change, we then gave Webvan a spin. Very impressive - the guy who showed up even put on the paper booties so he wouldn't get the floor dirty. After about five deliveries, they stopped wearing the booties, narrowing their delivery windows, and eventually went belly-up.
We're now with Peapod. Their delivery charges and prices are decent, and they wear the booties off and on.
One things that's been supreme about these operations has usually been the quality of food. Produce is usually better than I can get at the local Dominick's (owned by Safeway) or Jewel (owned by Albertson's). We're vegetarians, but friends say the meat is excellent, too. It seems like they get first pick of the produce and meat before the chains do, or something, because it's always been better than I could have picked out myself.
Seriously, if you like good fresh food, and are a little lazy for any reason, the track record for these operations in the food quality department has been stellar.
Indeed! I must say this was an enlightening comment to me - when I wrote "outside the US", I implicitly meant "Urbanized Europe or Asia" and didn't even think about that connotation. Your comment pointed out my own ignorance to me, perhaps even without meaning to do so.
I stand more humbled and thank you for that.
The best rebuttal to this kind of statistical argument came from the
redoubtable John W. Campbell:
The laws of population growth tell us that approximately half the
people who were ever born in the history of the world are now
dead. There is therefore a 0.5 probability that this message is
being read by a corpse.
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