Dot-com Bubble Back Like It's 1999
Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
21–30 of 67 posts
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, that's not caste system.. better phrase would be income inequality or unskilled labor.
Keep telling yourself that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_...
The bay area has the greatest social mobility in the US: http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#23>>Instacart charges as little as $3.99 for grocery shopping and delivery. Yet Shah said its shoppers make about $20 an hour, plus tips, which makes profitability seem unlikely, even with the smartest algorithms routing shoppers through grocery stores and city streets. When I told him that, he sounded a lot like Borders back in Webvan’s heyday: “We’re really well funded, so that is not something we’re as worried about…
Strategy for consumers: Use Instacart until they run out of investors' money or raise their prices. Then use competitor when they are funded and repeat taking advantage of loss making enterprises. Once bubble is popped, go to the store yourself.
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#24But there's one huge difference between 1999 and 2014 - mobile phones. And people, everyone, seems much more accepting of digital delivery services. Back then it was kind of a novelty. That being said I think the ones that will be most successful will put the burden of service and delivery on a 3rd party.
You should say "smart phones" instead of "mobile phones". The Nokia 3210, which came out in 1999 and was bought 160 million times, has similar dimensions (same height and smaller width) to the iPhone5, and although it is more than 2x as thick as the iPhone 5, the smallest model was still less than an 7/10 of an inch thick. I would guess that it also has better battery life than any smart phone sold today.
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#25As far as i know, both Instacart and Postmates make money with every delivery. They used the last two years to figure out what to charge and when. Both get kickbacks from select merchants, both are in a heavy growth phase and both have tweaked their algorithms to either allow for multiple deliveries per hour or use in-store shoppers for faster access to gods. What they are doing is working and it looks impressive to…
Well I suppose when you have fast access to the gods anything is possible.
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#26"After all, the worst case is that we’ll go back to doing the same thing I did when Rewinery went under — running out to the store."
No, the worst case is that Rewinery took out your favorite mom and pop shops and now you have to go to walmart to get your second favorite wines.
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the margin on groceries? 1-2%?
Pretty much it seems: > "The average profit margin for grocery stores is 1.3 percent" says Jeff Cohen, a grocery industry analyst with IBIS World. -- http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/groceries-low-mar...
That's net, not gross. They can afford to cut the item price if they have lower marginal costs (stocking?).
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#28I never understood how companies like instacart explained this to their investors. Over time one of several things must happen: 1. Instacart magically makes a courier capable of doing 4 trips an hour 2. Instacart drastically increases it's prices 3. Instacart Severely lowers the compensation to courriers
I wonder if "3" isn't an unspoken reliance on self-driving cars for true profitability. If you can be the "Amazon" of delivery the day courier costs drop from $20/hour to $.56/mi, there's an awful lot of up-side. Similarly with Uber.
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#29>>Instacart charges as little as $3.99 for grocery shopping and delivery. Yet Shah said its shoppers make about $20 an hour, plus tips, which makes profitability seem unlikely, even with the smartest algorithms routing shoppers through grocery stores and city streets. When I told him that, he sounded a lot like Borders back in Webvan’s heyday: “We’re really well funded, so that is not something we’re as worried about…
Strategy for consumers: Use Instacart until they run out of investors' money or raise their prices. Then use competitor when they are funded and repeat taking advantage of loss making enterprises. Once bubble is popped, go to the store yourself.
Assuming the local store still exists by then.
Re: Delivery Startups Are Back Like It’s 1999
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Keep telling yourself that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socio-economic_mobility_in_the_...
The bay area has the greatest social mobility in the US: http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/
Having the "greatest" value in a set of really small values doesn't mean much.