2 ms·

From the sounds of things US supermarkets do not have the online and delivery presence that they do in the UK. I reckon the 4 major supermarkets here deliver to

by retube 15y ago

From the sounds of things US supermarkets do not have the online and delivery presence that they do in the UK. I reckon the 4 major supermarkets here deliver to 98% of the population, same price as in-store with free delivery (hourly delivery spots do cost a bit extra though). So maybe there is a market for this across the pond. But then you've got the risk that the US supermarkets get their act together (and really it would amazing if they didn't).

halostatue 15y ago
There's a bit of a market. I live where Grocery Gateway runs (Toronto). It went well and I even used it periodically for the first few years, but they ran into the problem that their costs (gas) went up dramatically and they had to make a number of changes. Ultimately, they were bought out by one of the local chains (Longos), who reduced their inventory even further and raised the delivery fee higher, so I haven't shopped with them in years. The biggest problem with grocery delivery in North America is going to be distance. Toronto is about 43km east-west by about 21km north-south, and the GTA is probably 100km east-west and 50km north-south. It's really hard to cover those distances in a time-effective manner, and refrigeration trucks are expensive to buy/lease and maintain; the 401 running through Toronto is one of the busiest highways in the world. You'd need to have the ability for a truck to be able to pull into any of your chain's stores and restock, and there you might run into problems because (a) not all stores are company stores (they may be franchisees; I'm not sure how common this is with grocery stores) and (b) the stores, even if not franchises, tend to do a lot of market segmentation meaning that you may not have all the same products because the neighbourhood has different needs.

2 ms·

From the sounds of things US supermarkets do not have the online and delivery presence that they do in the UK. I reckon the 4 major supermarkets here deliver to

by retube 15y ago

halostatue 15y ago
There's a bit of a market. I live where Grocery Gateway runs (Toronto). It went well and I even used it periodically for the first few years, but they ran into the problem that their costs (gas) went up dramatically and they had to make a number of changes. Ultimately, they were bought out by one of the local chains (Longos), who reduced their inventory even further and raised the delivery fee higher, so I haven't shopped with them in years. The biggest problem with grocery delivery in North America is going to be distance. Toronto is about 43km east-west by about 21km north-south, and the GTA is probably 100km east-west and 50km north-south. It's really hard to cover those distances in a time-effective manner, and refrigeration trucks are expensive to buy/lease and maintain; the 401 running through Toronto is one of the busiest highways in the world. You'd need to have the ability for a truck to be able to pull into any of your chain's stores and restock, and there you might run into problems because (a) not all stores are company stores (they may be franchisees; I'm not sure how common this is with grocery stores) and (b) the stores, even if not franchises, tend to do a lot of market segmentation meaning that you may not have all the same products because the neighbourhood has different needs.