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I haven't used Amazon / Whole Foods' grocery delivery (always lived within walking distance), but I have tried other services like Peapod by Giant and Instacart

I haven't used Amazon / Whole Foods' grocery delivery (always lived within walking distance), but I have tried other services like Peapod by Giant and Instacart. On the whole, it's been a terrible experience. Lots of orders botched. I once ordered two pounds of shrimp and received...two shrimp. I've had shoppers who can't tell green onions from leeks or zucchini from cucumber. For my last office birthday party (we do it for everyone) we ordered a cheesecake from Instacart, and it arrived moldy. So I'm not at all surprised that people, after having tried grocery delivery, are backing off. As to Amazon and Whole Foods' retail experience, I feel like quality has declined, shortages are more frequent, and using the app's QR code for deals is painful, frustrating, and insufficiently rewarding to bother with it.

FakeComments 8y ago
I sometimes think retail locations seriously misunderstand their business. It’s only partly to sell things, because their main business is actually smoothing out supply chains. As a customer, I want my supply of things I need or want to not be coupled to other people’s buying timings or supplier timings. Stores switching to just in time stocking routinely fail at this, because variance is non-zero. This in turn destroys my ability to just go there and buy something, and hence the value the store provided. I have the same problems at most grocery stores, these days, where routinely things I want are transiently out of stock.
Klonoar 8y ago
While I typically agree... unless there's an image of the packaging on that cheesecake that indicates someone should've caught it, I'd put far more blame on the store for having a bad item in stock. There's also some stores where when an order goes in, an IC shopper just picks up the bag and doesn't do the shopping themselves.
CreepGin 8y ago
I've used Amazon Fresh on and off for about 2 years in the Boston area (totaling maybe around 15 orders). My experience has been pleasant. Never gotten a cracked egg or spilled milk. I did get a subpar water melon and pineapple. But I was really pushing my luck there ordering these two.
kokokokoko 8y ago
Also, grocery stores tend to be closer than other retail stores. At an average of 2.14 miles from the the average US consumer[1], added to the fact that most US consumers that would pay extra for the use of a delivery service own a car, are delivery services actually solving a serious pain point for the majority of US consumers? Is the experience of finding food on an phone or computer a tangibly better experience than doing it in person? Is having to plan in advance for what you want and the requirement of being home around the time of delivery actually a better experience than hopping in the car and driving 5-ish minutes and selecting the products in person? Do enough people trust someone else to select their produce? For some people I would say this is true. But is there a large enough subset of US consumers to justify the scale required for grocery delivery to be a viable mainstream service? Or is this more of a niche product? I feel like this is different from other consumer goods, like electronics, where things like price comparison, selection, reviews, and research play a much larger role in the shopping experience and it is a mistake to assume that grocery is an analog to other consumer goods. [1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2015/august/most-us-households-do-their-main-grocery-shopping-at-supermarkets-and-supercenters-regardless-of-income/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2015/august/most-us-hou... From the cited article: "The distance to the nearest supermarket or supercenter for the average U.S. household was 2.14 miles"
- petra 8y ago
  Yes, driving 5 minutes isn't a big deal. >> selecting the products in person? How long does this takes ? And how is the experience if you're a busy mom with small children ? So yes. Maybe you're right. Maybe large-scale grocery delivery won't happen. But in-store pickup ? There's decent likelihood it would become a large scale service. And than, that would be a great time to scale a delivery business. High consumer density for pickup, leading to high delivery density with cheap prices, guarantees lots of online orders and that high delivery density.
projectileboy 8y ago
In my experience, real grocery stores that then offer delivery do it well, because they understand groceries. Anecdotally, Lunds and Byerlys in Minneapolis/St Paul has an excellent grocery delivery service. But big retailers, or "disruptive" SV companies, don't really understand groceries, and so don't do grocery delivery well. Not every experience is easily Amazon-ified.

FakeComments 8y ago

I sometimes think retail locations seriously misunderstand their business. It’s only partly to sell things, because their main business is actually smoothing out supply chains. As a customer, I want my supply of things I need or want to not be coupled to other people’s buying timings or supplier timings. Stores switching to just in time stocking routinely fail at this, because variance is non-zero. This in turn destroys my ability to just go there and buy something, and hence the value the store provided. I have the same problems at most grocery stores, these days, where routinely things I want are transiently out of stock.

Klonoar 8y ago

While I typically agree... unless there's an image of the packaging on that cheesecake that indicates someone should've caught it, I'd put far more blame on the store for having a bad item in stock. There's also some stores where when an order goes in, an IC shopper just picks up the bag and doesn't do the shopping themselves.

CreepGin 8y ago

I've used Amazon Fresh on and off for about 2 years in the Boston area (totaling maybe around 15 orders). My experience has been pleasant. Never gotten a cracked egg or spilled milk. I did get a subpar water melon and pineapple. But I was really pushing my luck there ordering these two.

kokokokoko 8y ago

Also, grocery stores tend to be closer than other retail stores. At an average of 2.14 miles from the the average US consumer[1], added to the fact that most US consumers that would pay extra for the use of a delivery service own a car, are delivery services actually solving a serious pain point for the majority of US consumers? Is the experience of finding food on an phone or computer a tangibly better experience than doing it in person? Is having to plan in advance for what you want and the requirement of being home around the time of delivery actually a better experience than hopping in the car and driving 5-ish minutes and selecting the products in person? Do enough people trust someone else to select their produce? For some people I would say this is true. But is there a large enough subset of US consumers to justify the scale required for grocery delivery to be a viable mainstream service? Or is this more of a niche product? I feel like this is different from other consumer goods, like electronics, where things like price comparison, selection, reviews, and research play a much larger role in the shopping experience and it is a mistake to assume that grocery is an analog to other consumer goods. [1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2015/august/most-us-households-do-their-main-grocery-shopping-at-supermarkets-and-supercenters-regardless-of-income/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2015/august/most-us-hou... From the cited article: "The distance to the nearest supermarket or supercenter for the average U.S. household was 2.14 miles"

petra 8y ago
Yes, driving 5 minutes isn't a big deal. >> selecting the products in person? How long does this takes ? And how is the experience if you're a busy mom with small children ? So yes. Maybe you're right. Maybe large-scale grocery delivery won't happen. But in-store pickup ? There's decent likelihood it would become a large scale service. And than, that would be a great time to scale a delivery business. High consumer density for pickup, leading to high delivery density with cheap prices, guarantees lots of online orders and that high delivery density.

projectileboy 8y ago

In my experience, real grocery stores that then offer delivery do it well, because they understand groceries. Anecdotally, Lunds and Byerlys in Minneapolis/St Paul has an excellent grocery delivery service. But big retailers, or "disruptive" SV companies, don't really understand groceries, and so don't do grocery delivery well. Not every experience is easily Amazon-ified.