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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.
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
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!
I am the one who submitted this story, and you're correct about my Russian origin, although currently I live in WA state. Now, Slashdot lists me, as submitter of 58 stories total. They're related to different events, as well as different companies, including Intel, Microsoft, Sony, etc. If all my postings went through some crooked schemes that included fat checks those companies sent me to submit stories to Slashdot, I'd have my own island.
I learned about FreshDirect from Fortune magazine today and I cannot use, let alone have incentive to advertise, their service.
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.
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
I do all my grocery shopping at Wal-Mart these days. It's a little farther to drive than the other stores, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper. The same stuff (almost literally, same brands and all) that costs $100 at Publix costs about $70-75 at Wal. Winn-Dixie is closer to Wal's prices, with the "value card" (yeah, yeah, privacy, blah, blah...but they don't do address verification, you just fill out the sheet and get your card right there, so as far as they're concerned, I'm Joe Smith from 123 Main St. in Boise, Idaho... ;) ) but it takes twice as long to shop there since half their inventory is a week past the expiration date (I swear to God one of their salamis tried to bite me once. Luckily it hadn't managed to grow any teeth. Yet...) Wal's also open 24 hours, which is nice for a night owl like me. Only downside is the aisles are crammed with pallets and carts of inventory at that time of night, so it can be rather hard to navigate...I had to walk half the length of the store one time when I found myself on the wrong side of the aisle and every space between the middle islands was blocked by pallets...
The other downside to Wal-Mart is their selection is somewhat limited, but they usually carry everything I'm looking for, so it's not a big deal for me. Oh, and they can't sell beer after midnight. Damn blue laws...
DennyK