4 ms·

I'm skeptical this will be successful. I just can't see these kind of operations selecting ripe and fresh produce like my mother taught me from the grocery stor

by mmgutz 11y ago

I'm skeptical this will be successful. I just can't see these kind of operations selecting ripe and fresh produce like my mother taught me from the grocery store. They're concerned about their bottom line and will send whatever is available. Good for the stores, not good for wise consumers.

skewart 11y ago
That's a big reason I'm not excited about these services. But if you're buying a lot of processed food - and a lot of grocery carts in the US are mostly processed food - then it's not a big deal.
cosmie 11y ago
Customer retention is a key concern for their bottom line, so they're incentivized to not piss off a customer by sending overripe or wilting produce. In the case of partnering with local stores, you'll end up with clashing incentives (the delivery service wants you to get the shiny apple, the store sees you as a way to pawn off the bruised one). But the delivery service can still apply pressure on the retailer, as well as instructing their drivers to do a quality control check before accepting the delivery.
roel_v 11y ago
I've been ordering fresh groceries online for a few months now (Netherlands) and while I was concerned about that as well, this hasn't shown to be a problem yet. Vegetables and fruit are very well packaged, in big styrofoam containers that have plenty of room in them, and I've never seen them stack vegetables that can't handle it (i.e., putting some lettuce on top of a cabbage isn't going to damage the cabbage). Obviously there will be variance between suppliers, but my experience has been good and contrary to what I expected.
Cthulhu_ 11y ago
It was before my time, but I'm sure there were a lot of people that thought the same thing about self-service stores (before that you'd step up to a counter and order things, at least on this side of the pool). Mind you, I'm sceptical myself; there's several deliver-fresh-food-to-home schemes going on here, they're far too expensive IMO and according to my colleagues, can be very pushy when it comes to maintaining a subscription model of sorts.
jon-wood 11y ago
At Hubbub we've never seen that happen. We're working with independent shops who know they're part of a marketplace where they're competing against other grocers, and if they try to palm off their rotting stock on a customer we'll refund it at their expense, and the customer likely won't buy from them again.
- toomanybeersies 11y ago
  The quality of produce is not a binary thing though. When you go to the supermarket, there's the rotting produce, there's the premium produce, but then there's also the mediocre produce, which probably takes up 80% of the stock of produce. Now, someone who cares about the quality of their bananas, or specifically wants bananas of a certain ripeness (maybe they want overripe bananas for a cake, or slightly unripe bananas for cooking), can go to a physical store and select the bananas they want. A picker at a warehouse isn't going to do that, I'm sure they'll avoid picking stock that's past it, but that doesn't mean they'll grab the best, or what you want.
  - jon-wood 11y ago
    At least in our case customers can request the bananas how they want, and the pickers will get exactly what they want. We've had people request and get "an avocado that will be ripe on Wednesday".
thenomad 11y ago
This is clearly a key concern for a lot of people, judging from the advertising in the UK for delivery services. Just about all of them emphasise how careful they are when picking. FWIW, I'm also rather picky, and whilst I don't always get groceries delivered, I can't recall ever having a problem with sub-standard goods being picked.
dagw 11y ago
I wonder if some smart data analysis can give a score about how picky a customer is likely to be (do they often order 'obscure' vegetables, do they only order stuff that is in season, do they search for a lot of food and cooking related terms). Highly picky shoppers will get the good stuff, and those likely not to notice or complain will get the crap stuff.
Latty 11y ago
Here in the UK, every big supermarket does online delivery, and it's popular - all the ones I have used have the same process - they tell their pickers to pick like they were buying for themselves (try to get long dates, try to pick good fruit/veg), allow you to ask for specific things (less/more ripe, bigger/smaller), allow you to reject anything for any reason at the door, replace items they don't have for alternatives (including bigger sizes/premium alternatives) without charging you more, and tell you about anything on the order sheet (this item is replaced, this item is short dated, etc...) and put them into marked 'check this before accepting' bags. I was intially sceptical like you, but I've found the quality is the same as if I'd picked it out myself. Obviously, there is no guarentee that is how another company would do it, but it does seem to be accepted here as the norm.
robk 11y ago
It's really hit or miss to be honest. I was skeptical when I first started using Ocado myself. I love to thump watermelons and feel the skin of honeydews for example to pick out the nice ripe ones. Quality is inconsistent - sometimes I get great choices, sometimes poor. I've learned now to buy certain things in person only. That said, this is only maybe 2-3 things a week which I can easily do at a fruitmonger or market. Certainly the convenience of the online shopping wins for me - carrying one bag home from the fruit stall is easier than 6 bags from Tesco.

by mmgutz 11y ago

skewart 11y ago

That's a big reason I'm not excited about these services. But if you're buying a lot of processed food - and a lot of grocery carts in the US are mostly processed food - then it's not a big deal.

cosmie 11y ago

Customer retention is a key concern for their bottom line, so they're incentivized to not piss off a customer by sending overripe or wilting produce. In the case of partnering with local stores, you'll end up with clashing incentives (the delivery service wants you to get the shiny apple, the store sees you as a way to pawn off the bruised one). But the delivery service can still apply pressure on the retailer, as well as instructing their drivers to do a quality control check before accepting the delivery.

roel_v 11y ago

I've been ordering fresh groceries online for a few months now (Netherlands) and while I was concerned about that as well, this hasn't shown to be a problem yet. Vegetables and fruit are very well packaged, in big styrofoam containers that have plenty of room in them, and I've never seen them stack vegetables that can't handle it (i.e., putting some lettuce on top of a cabbage isn't going to damage the cabbage). Obviously there will be variance between suppliers, but my experience has been good and contrary to what I expected.

Cthulhu_ 11y ago

It was before my time, but I'm sure there were a lot of people that thought the same thing about self-service stores (before that you'd step up to a counter and order things, at least on this side of the pool). Mind you, I'm sceptical myself; there's several deliver-fresh-food-to-home schemes going on here, they're far too expensive IMO and according to my colleagues, can be very pushy when it comes to maintaining a subscription model of sorts.

jon-wood 11y ago

At Hubbub we've never seen that happen. We're working with independent shops who know they're part of a marketplace where they're competing against other grocers, and if they try to palm off their rotting stock on a customer we'll refund it at their expense, and the customer likely won't buy from them again.

toomanybeersies 11y ago
The quality of produce is not a binary thing though. When you go to the supermarket, there's the rotting produce, there's the premium produce, but then there's also the mediocre produce, which probably takes up 80% of the stock of produce. Now, someone who cares about the quality of their bananas, or specifically wants bananas of a certain ripeness (maybe they want overripe bananas for a cake, or slightly unripe bananas for cooking), can go to a physical store and select the bananas they want. A picker at a warehouse isn't going to do that, I'm sure they'll avoid picking stock that's past it, but that doesn't mean they'll grab the best, or what you want.
- jon-wood 11y ago
  At least in our case customers can request the bananas how they want, and the pickers will get exactly what they want. We've had people request and get "an avocado that will be ripe on Wednesday".

thenomad 11y ago

This is clearly a key concern for a lot of people, judging from the advertising in the UK for delivery services. Just about all of them emphasise how careful they are when picking. FWIW, I'm also rather picky, and whilst I don't always get groceries delivered, I can't recall ever having a problem with sub-standard goods being picked.

dagw 11y ago

I wonder if some smart data analysis can give a score about how picky a customer is likely to be (do they often order 'obscure' vegetables, do they only order stuff that is in season, do they search for a lot of food and cooking related terms). Highly picky shoppers will get the good stuff, and those likely not to notice or complain will get the crap stuff.

Latty 11y ago

Here in the UK, every big supermarket does online delivery, and it's popular - all the ones I have used have the same process - they tell their pickers to pick like they were buying for themselves (try to get long dates, try to pick good fruit/veg), allow you to ask for specific things (less/more ripe, bigger/smaller), allow you to reject anything for any reason at the door, replace items they don't have for alternatives (including bigger sizes/premium alternatives) without charging you more, and tell you about anything on the order sheet (this item is replaced, this item is short dated, etc...) and put them into marked 'check this before accepting' bags. I was intially sceptical like you, but I've found the quality is the same as if I'd picked it out myself. Obviously, there is no guarentee that is how another company would do it, but it does seem to be accepted here as the norm.

robk 11y ago

It's really hit or miss to be honest. I was skeptical when I first started using Ocado myself. I love to thump watermelons and feel the skin of honeydews for example to pick out the nice ripe ones. Quality is inconsistent - sometimes I get great choices, sometimes poor. I've learned now to buy certain things in person only. That said, this is only maybe 2-3 things a week which I can easily do at a fruitmonger or market. Certainly the convenience of the online shopping wins for me - carrying one bag home from the fruit stall is easier than 6 bags from Tesco.