4 ms·

I'll really would like that the reatailer prepared for me my montlhy basket based on my previous and recurrent consumption.

ryanianian 4y ago
And if stores had meals pre-shopped in bags you could just remove unwanted items from. Grocery stores seem ripe for simple optimizations even without big data
- agentultra 4y ago
  Grocery stores would be better served by not being giant chains with optimization problems, at least in North America. Better zoning laws that allow mixed-use zoning would enable more, smaller grocers embedded in neighbourhoods. Personalized service would be much easier on a smaller scale. And you wouldn't have to travel far to pick it up.
  - the_lonely_road 4y ago
    This is a recipe for significantly higher grocery prices which is the exact opposite of what you want for one of the staples of stability: food.
    - comte7092 4y ago
      I’d beg to differ. The current system optimizes for large grocery trips for bulk items that require long shelf stability. Most people would agree that produce should make up the bulk of ones diet, yet it’s pretty plain to see that the footprint of the produce section doesn’t scale with the size of the store. Produce is something best shopped for frequently, and is something I’d personally be willing to pay a higher upfront cost for the convenience of closer smaller stores where I can get in and out quickly. Because while we may pay a lower sticker price, the elephant in the room with the massive hidden cost that we pay but rarely account for: food waste.
      - pixl97 4y ago
        You're also likely someone with a higher than average income, and general closeness to potential store locations. If you were poorer, or had to drive farther it's less likely you'd use those as optimization points. Also fresh food is great for the diet and health, but when some even occurs that interrupts things like distribution of fuel, food, or power just having it around may lead you to getting hungry really quickly. This is something you have to look at on both a personal and national level. Food security can quickly lead to destabilization.
        comte7092 4y ago
        Conversely buying in bulk implies having enough room in your house to store food items. It’s not like the typical Costco shopper is low income. Our grocery system is optimized for moderately well to do suburbanites with SUVs and large houses. Low income people tend to live in “food deserts”. Consider the experience of shopping for food in America if you’re dependent on public transit, which a much larger proportion of the low income population are. Requiring a car to get groceries is extremely expensive.
      - hgsgm 4y ago
        Oh come on. Fresh food without preservatives lasts at least a week.
        comte7092 4y ago
        You realize that a lot of people shop less frequently than that right?
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Aside from specialty shops, I'm not sure there's any great virtue in smaller markets, often with higher prices and less selection, other than there are probably more of them you can walk to if you live in a denser urban area. And my observation at least in the UK is that most of those smaller grocers are giant chains like Tesco and Sainsbury.
    - uoaei 4y ago
      Not smaller markets, just operating under a large one in a more decentralized fashion. Small grocers sourcing and selling local-first will of course be more responsive to local needs and more resilient against large supply chain shocks. Not to mention cut out a lot of traffic on trucking and shipping lanes.
  - Agrue8u 4y ago
    "... this is just the rise of this new general store, and how all specialty stores look the same now, so none of them are actually really that special." https://www.marketplace.org/2023/02/02/why-are-boutiques-and-coffee-shops-selling-the-same-olive-oil-and-tinned-fish/amp/ https://www.marketplace.org/2023/02/02/why-are-boutiques-and...
  - red-iron-pine 4y ago
    Being the giant chain is the optimization. Grocery stores have razor thin margins; operating at scale is the only way to keep prices reasonable. This is also one of the few domains where people are very price sensitive, and they regularly see and think about costs. I couldn't tell you what my local automotive guy charges for an oil change, but I can absolutely tell you the price of flour and cheese. No one is going to pay $10 for a single apple, and if you raise prices hard enough people are going to start gardening.
    - agentultra 4y ago
      It's ironic that low food prices are not for ensuring equitable access to food. Update: Go buy an apple in a food desert and I guarantee that if they have one you will pay more than a dollar for one. Grocery chains are optimized for maximizing profit not distribution.
      - hgsgm 4y ago
        A more expensive local grocer will not make that apple cheaper.
        agentultra 4y ago
        And not having to own a car and live in an expensive neighborhood might actually make it reasonably affordable.
  - zwkrt 4y ago
    It's funny that we are always chasing after 'personalization', which is of course only a problem created by industrialization and massive scale.
  - hgsgm 4y ago
    Most people don't want to pay extra for personally-provided grocery service. If the giant chain (or a network of smaller grocers) had good personalization, it would make the stocking the small local pickup point more practical. I live in a diverse multicultural community. A small local grocer can't stock everything my neighbors and I want.
schnable 4y ago
Most online grocers do this.
nsxwolf 4y ago
It's a great way to make sure people never try new things.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  How so? It could include new recommendws things.
toss1 4y ago
My household would really like it if Amazon foods merely provide the same list we bought form last time to adjust for this delivery — we absolutely hate having to start from scratch every time (and that's not even mentioning their issues with substitution). Heck, the local wine & beer outlet lets me just open up the last purchase list and buy that again (and adjust the quantities if desired). WTF is wrong when a local store can get it so right, yet Amazon, with it's emphasis on "always be hungry like a startup", so totally forks it up?
- ghaff 4y ago
  Substitution was the real issue I had with online grocery delivery when I last used it 15 years ago. Things would get substituted that I didn't really think were equivalent and essential ingredients for some meal would be left off the order. It was "OK" at the time; I was on crutches and could go to the store but not easily do a full grocery shopping. But I haven't done online grocery since.
  - sizzle 4y ago
    15 years is a long time in tech
    - ghaff 4y ago
      From what I hear from people, "tech" doesn't really solve the substitution or out of stock problem. I also mostly would just as soon go to the store.

ryanianian 4y ago

And if stores had meals pre-shopped in bags you could just remove unwanted items from. Grocery stores seem ripe for simple optimizations even without big data

agentultra 4y ago
Grocery stores would be better served by not being giant chains with optimization problems, at least in North America. Better zoning laws that allow mixed-use zoning would enable more, smaller grocers embedded in neighbourhoods. Personalized service would be much easier on a smaller scale. And you wouldn't have to travel far to pick it up.
- the_lonely_road 4y ago
  This is a recipe for significantly higher grocery prices which is the exact opposite of what you want for one of the staples of stability: food.
  - comte7092 4y ago
    I’d beg to differ. The current system optimizes for large grocery trips for bulk items that require long shelf stability. Most people would agree that produce should make up the bulk of ones diet, yet it’s pretty plain to see that the footprint of the produce section doesn’t scale with the size of the store. Produce is something best shopped for frequently, and is something I’d personally be willing to pay a higher upfront cost for the convenience of closer smaller stores where I can get in and out quickly. Because while we may pay a lower sticker price, the elephant in the room with the massive hidden cost that we pay but rarely account for: food waste.
    - pixl97 4y ago
      You're also likely someone with a higher than average income, and general closeness to potential store locations. If you were poorer, or had to drive farther it's less likely you'd use those as optimization points. Also fresh food is great for the diet and health, but when some even occurs that interrupts things like distribution of fuel, food, or power just having it around may lead you to getting hungry really quickly. This is something you have to look at on both a personal and national level. Food security can quickly lead to destabilization.
      - comte7092 4y ago
        Conversely buying in bulk implies having enough room in your house to store food items. It’s not like the typical Costco shopper is low income. Our grocery system is optimized for moderately well to do suburbanites with SUVs and large houses. Low income people tend to live in “food deserts”. Consider the experience of shopping for food in America if you’re dependent on public transit, which a much larger proportion of the low income population are. Requiring a car to get groceries is extremely expensive.
    - hgsgm 4y ago
      Oh come on. Fresh food without preservatives lasts at least a week.
      - comte7092 4y ago
        You realize that a lot of people shop less frequently than that right?
- ghaff 4y ago
  Aside from specialty shops, I'm not sure there's any great virtue in smaller markets, often with higher prices and less selection, other than there are probably more of them you can walk to if you live in a denser urban area. And my observation at least in the UK is that most of those smaller grocers are giant chains like Tesco and Sainsbury.
  - uoaei 4y ago
    Not smaller markets, just operating under a large one in a more decentralized fashion. Small grocers sourcing and selling local-first will of course be more responsive to local needs and more resilient against large supply chain shocks. Not to mention cut out a lot of traffic on trucking and shipping lanes.
- Agrue8u 4y ago
  "... this is just the rise of this new general store, and how all specialty stores look the same now, so none of them are actually really that special." https://www.marketplace.org/2023/02/02/why-are-boutiques-and-coffee-shops-selling-the-same-olive-oil-and-tinned-fish/amp/ https://www.marketplace.org/2023/02/02/why-are-boutiques-and...
- red-iron-pine 4y ago
  Being the giant chain is the optimization. Grocery stores have razor thin margins; operating at scale is the only way to keep prices reasonable. This is also one of the few domains where people are very price sensitive, and they regularly see and think about costs. I couldn't tell you what my local automotive guy charges for an oil change, but I can absolutely tell you the price of flour and cheese. No one is going to pay $10 for a single apple, and if you raise prices hard enough people are going to start gardening.
  - agentultra 4y ago
    It's ironic that low food prices are not for ensuring equitable access to food. Update: Go buy an apple in a food desert and I guarantee that if they have one you will pay more than a dollar for one. Grocery chains are optimized for maximizing profit not distribution.
    - hgsgm 4y ago
      A more expensive local grocer will not make that apple cheaper.
      - agentultra 4y ago
        And not having to own a car and live in an expensive neighborhood might actually make it reasonably affordable.
- zwkrt 4y ago
  It's funny that we are always chasing after 'personalization', which is of course only a problem created by industrialization and massive scale.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  Most people don't want to pay extra for personally-provided grocery service. If the giant chain (or a network of smaller grocers) had good personalization, it would make the stocking the small local pickup point more practical. I live in a diverse multicultural community. A small local grocer can't stock everything my neighbors and I want.

schnable 4y ago

Most online grocers do this.

nsxwolf 4y ago

It's a great way to make sure people never try new things.

hgsgm 4y ago
How so? It could include new recommendws things.

toss1 4y ago

My household would really like it if Amazon foods merely provide the same list we bought form last time to adjust for this delivery — we absolutely hate having to start from scratch every time (and that's not even mentioning their issues with substitution). Heck, the local wine & beer outlet lets me just open up the last purchase list and buy that again (and adjust the quantities if desired). WTF is wrong when a local store can get it so right, yet Amazon, with it's emphasis on "always be hungry like a startup", so totally forks it up?

ghaff 4y ago
Substitution was the real issue I had with online grocery delivery when I last used it 15 years ago. Things would get substituted that I didn't really think were equivalent and essential ingredients for some meal would be left off the order. It was "OK" at the time; I was on crutches and could go to the store but not easily do a full grocery shopping. But I haven't done online grocery since.
- sizzle 4y ago
  15 years is a long time in tech
  - ghaff 4y ago
    From what I hear from people, "tech" doesn't really solve the substitution or out of stock problem. I also mostly would just as soon go to the store.