4 ms·

Reason #1 is a big one in my experience trying out various grocery delivery services but the greatest problem IMO is in how there isn't a good way to deal with

by cc439 8y ago

Reason #1 is a big one in my experience trying out various grocery delivery services but the greatest problem IMO is in how there isn't a good way to deal with things that couldn't be found or are found to be out-of-stock. 3rd-party services don't have perfect visibility into the layout and inventory system of every grocery chain and each of their individual locations so there is almost always something that can't be delivered in every order. This isn't a problem whenever I run errands myself as I will be more familiar with my go-to stores, meaning I can find most anything (it seems many 3rd-party services push their workers so hard in terms of efficiency metrics that they will give up on locating an item if it isn't immediately apparent where it is) and I can also swing by another store while I'm out if a critical item isn't in stock at my go-to store. Grocery delivery seemed really slick at first but after the 5th time receiving an order that is missing a critical item, the novelty (and the time savings/convenience/etc) wears off.

mamon 8y ago
When I was ordering groceries from Instacart it let me choose the action in case the item is missing, like choosing a possible replacement (e.g. different brand of milk or frozen pizza) - for each individual item. In Poland I had similar experience, and there's also an option "call me", when the person completing my order will tell me what the issue is and let me decide. I realize, however, that the approach might not scale, especially when the phone call is required.
- madrox 8y ago
  It definitely doesn't scale. A lot also depends on the diligence of the person shopping on your behalf. I've found YMMV quite a bit when you rely on their judgment.
  - Dylan16807 8y ago
    With human shoppers, it should be a relatively fixed percentage of the time spent shopping, right? Why doesn't that scale? On the other hand if you go high-automation you'll have more accurate inventory and the situation should improve.
    - madrox 8y ago
      It doesn't scale in the sense that it's harder to create a consistent experience as you add more shoppers. Some are good; more are terrible.
- jtokoph 8y ago
  We’ve had amazon orders where we specified they should ask about a replacement. They sent an in app message without notification asking if some not very related item was a good replacement. Less than 30 seconds later, the order was closed and sent out for delivery. Happened with 3+ out of stock items. To amazons credit we said we didn’t approve those replacements and they gave them to us for free.
- cc439 8y ago
  That works up to a point but sometimes you need something very particular where the substitutes available are inferior to the point of being wholly undesireable (like substituting hot italian sausage made in-store for prepackaged processed sausage filled with onlu god knows what) or niche enough that stores typically only stock 1 option (like clear, unflavored, unsweetened gelatin). Missing either of those items is a deal breaker when you're planning for specific meals or dishes you plan to bring to an event.
pault 8y ago
Amazon is integrating with WF inventory systems so that information should be real time soon.
deleted 8y ago
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by cc439 8y ago

mamon 8y ago

When I was ordering groceries from Instacart it let me choose the action in case the item is missing, like choosing a possible replacement (e.g. different brand of milk or frozen pizza) - for each individual item. In Poland I had similar experience, and there's also an option "call me", when the person completing my order will tell me what the issue is and let me decide. I realize, however, that the approach might not scale, especially when the phone call is required.

madrox 8y ago
It definitely doesn't scale. A lot also depends on the diligence of the person shopping on your behalf. I've found YMMV quite a bit when you rely on their judgment.
- Dylan16807 8y ago
  With human shoppers, it should be a relatively fixed percentage of the time spent shopping, right? Why doesn't that scale? On the other hand if you go high-automation you'll have more accurate inventory and the situation should improve.
  - madrox 8y ago
    It doesn't scale in the sense that it's harder to create a consistent experience as you add more shoppers. Some are good; more are terrible.
jtokoph 8y ago
We’ve had amazon orders where we specified they should ask about a replacement. They sent an in app message without notification asking if some not very related item was a good replacement. Less than 30 seconds later, the order was closed and sent out for delivery. Happened with 3+ out of stock items. To amazons credit we said we didn’t approve those replacements and they gave them to us for free.
cc439 8y ago
That works up to a point but sometimes you need something very particular where the substitutes available are inferior to the point of being wholly undesireable (like substituting hot italian sausage made in-store for prepackaged processed sausage filled with onlu god knows what) or niche enough that stores typically only stock 1 option (like clear, unflavored, unsweetened gelatin). Missing either of those items is a deal breaker when you're planning for specific meals or dishes you plan to bring to an event.

pault 8y ago

Amazon is integrating with WF inventory systems so that information should be real time soon.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]