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Amazon is taking a swing at the online grocery market. This comes about 6 years after the demise of Webvan and the marginalization of Peapod, two of the original attempts at
online grocery delivery. But now Amazon is throwing their hat in the ring, utilizing their highly-acclaimed distribution system to ship non-perishable foods right to your door. Without the overhead that Webvan and Peapod required, (such as refridgerated trucks capable of transporting perishables like milk and raw meat) Amazon might have a better shot at making this work for people that dislike or are unable to make regular visits to their local grocery store. Among some of the features Amazon promises:
- More than 10,000 non-perishable grocery items
- Shipment of all products for free via Super Saver Shipping or Amazon Prime
- An extensive selection of natural and organic products
- Personalized shopping lists
The personalized shopping list sounds especially interesting. You can use it to keep track of products that you purchase regularly, eliminating the time spent browsing the virtual shelves. One immediate downside is it seems that they are only selling items in bulk, similar to a Costco or Sam’s Club. A search on cereal shows packs of 6 or 7 boxes for roughly $15-$30. Now I like Uncle Sam cereal, but do I like it enough to eat through six boxes? Obviously, large families would see this as more of a benefit. In addition to food, they are also offering household items like dishwasher soap (again in large bundles) and pet supplies bringing back memories of the ugly demise of Pets.com.
What do you think? Are you ready to order a new mp3 player, a couple of books and some spaghetti all in the same shipment?
2 Comments
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As long as it’s cost-effective I think this could be great. I’d much rather have bulk loads of diapers delivered than run to the store everytime we run out. Looks like there could be a lot of specialty items too, like organic food that is typically harder to find in regular stores.
gotta say, im not to thrilled by the whole delivery groceries idea. A lot of people in DC use peapod for their groceries, but i dont see any benefit in getting delivery groceries if i still need to go to the store to get the fresh meat, veggies, and fruits because the guy with the truck likes to ship brown broccoli.