grocery shopping via the net

[cellio]

A story on CNN today suggests that grocery shopping by internet is becoming more available. Personally, I'd love it -- and not just for the reason they cite in the story, that it's more convenient for busy people. My grocery store might, theoretically, deliver 50-pound bags of cat food, and 14-pound jugs of litter, and bags full of heavy canned goods, and so on right to my front door, with no shlepping on my part? Count me in! And I'm young and (mostly) able-bodied -- this would be a real boon to those who aren't.

They list downsides of concern for spoilage (how long does it take to get the ice cream to you and will it melt first?) and people not trusting others to pick their produce. Personally, I believe it's in the stores' best interest to deliver quality goods, so I'm not concerned -- and anyway, I suspect most people wouldn't do all their shopping this way. I can easily pop into the store for milk, eggs, and salad makings once a week on the way home from work. A "real" shopping run, though, requires more time and effort. I'd be delighted to just email it in and wait for gratification.

No, for me the issues would be (1) will they deliver at convenient times, (2) will they honor coupons and other discounts, and (3) will they support order placement such as "whichever of Coke or Pepsi is cheaper this week"?

Comments

[dsrtao]

Three of these services have been available here in Boston in the last few years; one of them, Peapod, is still around.

They will certainly deliver at convenient times -- IIRC, they'll accept a half-hour window from you with sufficient notice. Manufacturer's coupons are honored. The selection of foods is nowhere near as broad as the grocery store with which they are affiliated, and the prices are not the same -- they are higher, in addition to whatever delivery fee is in place.

[cellio]

Prices -- ah, that could be a limitation. I had gotten the impression that you would pay the store price and a flat delivery fee -- and I'm probably perfectly willing to pay, say, a $10 delivery fee if I get to load up the order with $200' worth of stuff that I'd rather not carry myself. If those goods are going to cost significantly more than in the store, though, that's not attractive.

[dsrtao]

No, sorry. Not only that, but there are never any special sales. If your local Stop & Shop is offering milk at $2.75 a gallon, the Peapod delivering the same milk will still be at $3.29. At the store you might change your mind and pick up Canada Dry on sale for 99 cents, instead of Schweppes at 1.29 -- but there's no difference at Peapod. Multiply those discrepancies by 30-odd items plus the delivery charge, and your grocery bill could go up more than $100/month quite easily...

[siderea]

Actually, Star had (has?) a service where you do your own shopping, and then hand them $5 or $10 (I forget which) at the register, and arrange a drop off time, and go home. Your groceries, allegedly, then show up at that time.

This has obvious unhappy ramifications for, say, ice cream, but would work fine for kitty litter.