Kozmo.com of the new era bubble.
This will be interesting.
Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
81–90 of 106 posts
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
apoorvamehta: thank you for your prompt, articulate response. The logistical challenges look daunting to me. My recollection is that the problem of coordinating and optimizing deliveries in such a point-to-point system with time constraints is NP-hard (I could be wrong about this, but that's my recollection). Then one has to deal with all sorts of real-world problems like order-fulfillment errors and substitutions (i…
cs702, your recollection is correct. Last mile logistics is a hard problem. Not to mention, order-fulfillment errors and substitutions do happen. However, we believe these are solvable. It comes down to two things - one is proper training of the drivers and using technology as much as possible to eliminate chances of errors. That is too high level. Let me explain more clearly for one specific case of order substituti…
> And, at Instacart we believe we can have the same efficiencies IF we model the stores in a city just like AMZN modeled warehouses across the world.
My supply chain experience comes almost entirely from third-party shipping (somewhat) similar to this. In my opinion it's considerably harder and more problematic than dealing with your own fulfillment centers. You give up a lot of control.
There's a whole slew of problems: * Integration with other people's systems, which are often horribly dysfunctional, require manual intervention (such as re-keying), and can't give you the data you need (e.g. stock levels) * The fact that you have to rely on staff that don't work for you, and either don't care about you, or in some cases deliberately sabotage your orders * You're often relying on a vendor who is also a direct-competitor in this or other channels
I think a good model is Seamless. They act as the middleman just as you do, however it's the restaurant's name you see, rate, and attach reputation to. This gives them the incentive to provide good service. If you're shielding your vendors from the effects of providing bad service, then there's less incentive to provide good service.
I think it's an interesting problem to solve. Though here in NYC we're spoiled by a large range of next-day options; I personally use services such as Fresh Direct, Amazon (Prime and "Shop 'n Save"), Soap, and USQ Wines.
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
The expense is mainly because of the driver. The moment self driving vans become economically feasible the delivery expenses will drop precipitously.
Are you just waiving fuel costs?
Nope. But self driving vans can do things humans can't. For example they can wait in a neighbourhood until an order comes in so they don't need to drive back to base. Or care that the wait is 3 hours. Or that they are working at 3am. Heck they don't ever even need to return to base, instead just making small efficient local journeys (and using electricity instead of petrol).
Remember that anyone locally would also need to spend a similar order of magnitude in fuel (and likely more) if they went to get things themselves.
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#84Looking forward to giving this a try. Best of luck!
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think to solve this problem, Amazon needs to bridge the gap between their value and local retailers' stock. It'd work something like this: You go online. You want to buy a new A/V receiver You find the one you want on Amazon at 9 am Amazon then asks you where you live Amazon taps into a database of willing stores that might carry the product. Most big-box stores have web-based inventory checks, so syncing their inv…
The bottleneck is the delivery: unless there are sufficient deliveries to be made in your neighbourhood, sending a van to just your house then back to depot is very expensive. For hundred-dollar-and-up items this works, but not for the kind of consumer goods that people want within an hour (food, namely). And for $9.99 for one-hour delivery, who is not getting paid very well here?
What do pizza delivery drivers get paid? And that's for working after-hours.
I swear a friend of mine years ago was getting under $4/delivery? Might've misremembered.
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think that the delivery economics work better in incredibly dense regions like Mumbai or Shenzen?
Actually I think this business model works better in big and dense Asian cities. There are a few things going for them: 1. cheaper labor: that drives down delivery costs 2. low credit card penetration is a business advantage: the drivers (or bicycle riders :), can collect COD. That saves card transaction fee too ... 3. buying habit: I know for certain that many Asians still shop groceries daily. This, together with a…
Not sure if the market is big enough, but there could also be an opportunity for servicing foreigners in those countries fearful of being quoted a 'tourist price'. e.g., you're in Xian and are going hiking at Huashan the next day. You'd like to have a package of supplies (drinks, snacks, packed lunch) delivered in the evening so you're ready to go in the morning. Some of things would be trivial to organise with a walk around the block, but others might be difficult because of the potential language barrier.
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
And customers will, what, walk out to the robovan and dig through the boxes until they find theirs? Paying a guy to sit in the robovan and run the packages to the door isn't going to be appreciably cheaper just because he sits in the passenger seat.
Amazon already has "Amazon lockers" scattered across Manhattan where you can go pick up your packages from a kiosk inside a grocery store / drug store. You enter a pick-up code on the touchscreen, and a specified locker opens up with your goods inside it. It's easy to see how similar tech could be adapted for use inside a robovan.
Any particular location you have seen this in NYC? Haven't seen it yet
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you just waiving fuel costs?
Nope. But self driving vans can do things humans can't. For example they can wait in a neighbourhood until an order comes in so they don't need to drive back to base. Or care that the wait is 3 hours. Or that they are working at 3am. Heck they don't ever even need to return to base, instead just making small efficient local journeys (and using electricity instead of petrol). Remember that anyone locally would also ne…
For example they can wait in a neighbourhood until an order comes in so they don't need to drive back to base.
I don't think people have fully thought through the impact of this yet.
A year ago I dared to suggest on HN that self-driving cars could potentially cause congestion (because it would be cheaper for an electric car to sit stationary traffic rather than paying for a park).
Back then I was downvoted to oblivion. I hope now people think it through a bit more.
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope. But self driving vans can do things humans can't. For example they can wait in a neighbourhood until an order comes in so they don't need to drive back to base. Or care that the wait is 3 hours. Or that they are working at 3am. Heck they don't ever even need to return to base, instead just making small efficient local journeys (and using electricity instead of petrol). Remember that anyone locally would also ne…
For example they can wait in a neighbourhood until an order comes in so they don't need to drive back to base. I don't think people have fully thought through the impact of this yet. A year ago I dared to suggest on HN that self-driving cars could potentially cause congestion (because it would be cheaper for an electric car to sit stationary traffic rather than paying for a park). Back then I was downvoted to oblivio…
You are being too negative. In high density areas there is far less likely to be downtime, and the vehicles can wait just outside that area in a sensible parking place, such as one with electrical chargers. It is the suburban areas where they are more likely to need parking, and more likely to have it.
I reckon self driving cars will also lead to significantly less car ownership. Taxis will become cheaper, more flexible and more plentiful (political shenanigans aside). The Zipcar model works too as the car can come to you.
And of course the cars can be coordinated to alleviate congestion. For example the system may work out that a particular car going at 29mph for a stretch instead of the limit of 30mph would avoid a glut of traffic 5 minutes ahead, or take a different route, or tell it to wait 5 minutes when it is empty.
Re: Instacart (YC S12) wants to be Amazon with 1 hour delivery
#90I'd love to have this service at home, so I'm (selfishly) hoping Instacart becomes hugely successful! That said, I can't help but wonder whether the company will find a business model with sustainable economics. A lot of really smart people have tried and failed to accomplish this sort of thing before. For example, Amazon invested $60 million in Kozmo.com back in the late 90's, and they couldn't make it work. (Kozmo.…
There's evidence that Amazon is about to make another go at same-day delivery, see: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/small_business/2012/0...