(I'm an Ocado-loving, London native transplanted to SF for the last 6 years) "What does this give me over Ocado (or their many many many competitors - I mean,

(I'm an Ocado-loving, London native transplanted to SF for the last 6 years) "What does this give me over Ocado (or their many many many competitors - I mean, Asda deliver?!)" We have NOTHING like Ocado (or Waitrose, frankly) here in the US. I so wish we did. Grocery delivery is rare in general here too. The UK is already a very mature, maybe even saturated, market for online shopping so something like Ernies would probably never appeal. It's one of the few examples where UK and rest of Europe is way way ahead of the US. I could write a book on grocery retail in the US vs UK but a lot of it comes down to the fact that grocery stores don't make the same margins that they do in the UK. Ocado works because Waitrose has some of the highest margins on their food because they sell premium high-quality brands and don't compete on price. Then there is a delivery fee on top of that. There are enough people in the UK, despite economic issues, that pay for premium groceries at Waitrose and want it delivered by Ocado (perhaps because they don't have a car). Groceries in the US are way way cheaper, perhaps as much as 50% and the margins are lower. To give you a comparison, the premium grocery chain Whole Foods (which I think we now have a few in London) compares to Sainsburys on price yet the quality is better. A grocery store with price point of Waitrose or Marks & Spencer wouldn't survive in the US because Americans won't spend that kind of money on groceries. Safeway here in San Francisco will offer home-delivery, but I think it's not something they do in their stores outside of cities, and the quality of the food is awful. But delivery has never been popular in American because car ownership is more common then in the UK - which is probably why Ernies are choosing not to tackle it. Anyone reading this and not familiar with Ocado should check it out - you'll be amazed at the prices but the quality and service is exceptional.