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I do consulting work in the grocery business and serve as a point of contact for software and tech purchasing for a handful of retailers and producers. Uber Ea
by vector_spaces 7y ago
I do consulting work in the grocery business and serve as a point of contact for software and tech purchasing for a handful of retailers and producers.
Uber Eats has been calling me every year to sell their platform to some of the stores I work with.
Grocery product margins are about 30 percent in the happy case (specialty foods), usually much lower. Uber Eats wants 30 percent of the basket on each sale they make.
The last salesperson who called, after I gave him that context, suggested this would be a new revenue stream. I remarked that we would lose money on each sale. He clarified that Uber Eats would only take 30 percent of what we sold through their platform, not all of the sales made by the store (how generous of them). I thanked him for clarifying and said I understood that.
He then suggested to me that customers who buy from us on Uber Eats might do so only once, and make the rest of their purchases in store.
I asked him why they would do that, and he uncomfortably said a few words about how Uber is working on something for grocery stores and said they would try back later.
They have reached out to me about once a year since 2016, and pretty much every conversation goes the same, and their pricing is the same.
It's ridiculous to me how they don't bother to understand the customers they engage, and that they train their sales people to continue goad businesses into working with them even after they've made clear they would lose money. Either way, it's very clear to me that this model is indeed going to be short lived. It depends primarily on weaknesses in labor laws and operators being swayed by their bizarre sales pitches enough to act against their own bottom line. In any case I certainly won't be sad to see it crash and burn
- AgloeDreams 7y agoWhat is bizzare about all of this is that I honestly do think that when Amazon figures Drone Delivery all out they will basically eat everyone alive in the food delivery business. They totally will automate the storage and picking systems, do it in warehouses (that also do normal delivery and act as Go/ Whole Foods distribution networks) and the Drone systems will be AI piloted possibly with human oversight. (one human, 10 drones, they may also use fleets to ease air clearance) Once they solve all of this you chop distribution to the store, shelf stocking, checkout staffing, picker payment, driver payment, property and lease fees, the margin will be higher, the experience faster, the costs lower. I bet Amazon will mass produce the drones at a rather low cost over time, maybe produce UWB tracking devices (like Apple's Tags will use) so you can be hand delivered products without the landing pad they currently use. It's a real infinite game and that's okay if it all takes 10+ years. I'm not saying this is a good thing for mankind, but might be a reality.
- untog 7y ago> when Amazon figures Drone Delivery all out This feels similar to “when self driving cars are figured out”, i.e. a much bigger ask than it would first appear.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 7y agoIn italy we used to joke over how people will stsrt buying rifles to shoot down drones and get the packages...
- AgloeDreams 7y agoI mean you can do the same with a postal truck if you like too. It's going to be pretty easy to prosecute when someone shoots a camera-covered, GPS and cellular connected object.
- AgloeDreams 7y agoMaybe, I actually agree on self driving cars. But self driving cars are WAY harder than drone delivery. You have whole human elements to them. Drone delivery is 'exit, turn, go straight, don't hit objects, find target, drop item, repeat home', whereas we have already solved 'don't hit objects.' which absolutely can't be said about self driving cars.
- cdelb 7y agoIf you're up for a conversation - I would love to get your thoughts on a new product we've been working on. caleb@mealime.com