Amazon starts selling groceries online

Net retailer takes a cautious step into a business that was one of the biggest casualties of the dot-com collapse.

The story "Amazon starts selling groceries online" published June 14, 2006 at 6:25 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[El Kabong]

Get the business model right

and the idea will take off.
Amazon's concept may or may not work out but home delivery of perishables was a bad idea no matter how much money they soaked it in.
Local grocery stores could perhaps do better by taking their "perks card" idea one step farther and allowing customers to build a shopping list online over a selected period of time for pick up at the store on a specific date and time, already checked out and charged to their debit card.
They would not have to stroll the aisles, wait for check out or haul bags around the parking lot in crippled buggies (which the store then has to hire some one to round up and bring back.) They would just drive up to a window or door, have their card swiped, and get loaded up with the order that matches their card.
I'm sure this is already being done somewhere and would love to know how it's going. It may be the "World Wide Web" but it has a lot of potential power right here in our home town!

[pmfjoe]

The Grocery Business Problem

The main problem for the entrenched grocery stores when it comes to online shopping whether for delivery of pickup at the front counter of the store is that most grocery stores make alot of their profit on impulse purchases people make while strolling up and down isles (dang need a spellcheck, lol) or on end caps. And if people buy online and dont walk the store they dont make these impulse buys which can hurt profits.

[pmfjoe]

The Grocery Business Problem

The main problem for the entrenched grocery stores when it comes to online shopping whether for delivery of pickup at the front counter of the store is that most grocery stores make alot of their profit on impulse purchases people make while strolling up and down isles (dang need a spellcheck, lol) or on end caps. And if people buy online and dont walk the store they dont make these impulse buys which can hurt profits.

Autocart should be live by end of year

See www.autocart.biz for an example of what you're thinking of, drive-thru grocery shopping. First one should be operational in Albuquerque, NM by end of the year.

[rmiecznik]

Learn from Home Grocers

Learn from Home Grocers mistake, make sure the business plan makes sense and that you took every factor into the profit margin formulas, or else! :- )