51–60 of 83 posts
My theory is that the inability of US chains to figure out online ordering is really some anti-competitive agreement to force customers to go into the store because the chains live and die by high-margin impulse buys. Wholefoods just opened a brand new chain called '365' that has all sorts of sophisticated nonsense like a programmatic tea-bot and yet there is no online ordering. Even the made to order stuff is driven…
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Every supermarket in Montrela offers phone orders and home delivery for a fee of less than $5 if your order is big enough ($50+). If you want to, you can even do your shopping in the store, and pay about two bucks to have them deliver to your house if it was in a few km. I just checked, and one of the smaller chains (4 stores) has their own online ordering platform.
Webvan existed in 1996.
Dozens of variations of these delivery & order services have existed spanning 20 years in the US, at start-ups and at large companies.
It's about perfecting the concept, deploying fully across the nation at high quality, acquiring access to 300 million people and owning the US market (worth tens of billions in sales in total once it's saturated).
I was going to post a comment about Instacart here, but instead decided to write a little thing on Medium. Why Instacart is gonna get crushed by Amazon https://medium.com/@a13n/why-instacart-is-gonna-get-crushed-...
I think you nailed it. I live in NYC and work too much, meaning I live and die by trading money for time. And every time I use instacart I regret it for the exact same reasons you describe. The idea of hooking into some kind of warehouse management network makes a lot of sense. Does an API exist? Probably not. But there's an opportunity right there. Partner with a major warehouse management system, preferably one tha…
My theory is that the inability of US chains to figure out online ordering is really some anti-competitive agreement to force customers to go into the store because the chains live and die by high-margin impulse buys. Wholefoods just opened a brand new chain called '365' that has all sorts of sophisticated nonsense like a programmatic tea-bot and yet there is no online ordering. Even the made to order stuff is driven…
I don't think so. Supermarkets and e-commerce are entirely different competencies and I have no trouble believing that being good at one doesn't give you a tonne of advantage at the other. Putting some startup's tea-bot into a store is far easier than integrating that tea-bot into an online ordering system.
For example, all supermarkets in South Africa provide online ordering and delivery. Sometimes without even a delivery charge.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Every supermarket in Montrela offers phone orders and home delivery for a fee of less than $5 if your order is big enough ($50+). If you want to, you can even do your shopping in the store, and pay about two bucks to have them deliver to your house if it was in a few km. I just checked, and one of the smaller chains (4 stores) has their own online ordering platform.
Taxis suck? -> Uber Hotels super shit and your rent is super high? -> AirBnB Restaurants don't deliver -> various delivery services Wholefood et al doesn't deliver -> various delivery services No laundry in your $5000 rental apt -> laundry by app
A lot of those problems don't exist in more developed places. (Yet other problems do). But these big startups grow due to it's ecosystem and Marketing/PR focus on the Bay Area.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Every supermarket in Montrela offers phone orders and home delivery for a fee of less than $5 if your order is big enough ($50+). If you want to, you can even do your shopping in the store, and pay about two bucks to have them deliver to your house if it was in a few km. I just checked, and one of the smaller chains (4 stores) has their own online ordering platform.
But your local stores-that-deliver doesn't argue against Instacart. Isn't it in their interest to outsource that chore to someone instead of paying their own drivers?
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Every supermarket in Montrela offers phone orders and home delivery for a fee of less than $5 if your order is big enough ($50+). If you want to, you can even do your shopping in the store, and pay about two bucks to have them deliver to your house if it was in a few km. I just checked, and one of the smaller chains (4 stores) has their own online ordering platform.
Which part is causing the crazy pills effect? Webvan existed in 1996. Dozens of variations of these delivery & order services have existed spanning 20 years in the US, at start-ups and at large companies. It's about perfecting the concept, deploying fully across the nation at high quality, acquiring access to 300 million people and owning the US market (worth tens of billions in sales in total once it's saturated).
I think pretty much few of these unicorns are proven not to be profitable, despite exploiting their employees (read low wages, no tips) [0], [1]. What's to make perfect on a business plan already broken?
[0] http://www.recode.net/2017/2/20/14503128/instacart-service-f...
[1] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/travis-kalanick-uber-ceo-apologi...
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Every supermarket in Montrela offers phone orders and home delivery for a fee of less than $5 if your order is big enough ($50+). If you want to, you can even do your shopping in the store, and pay about two bucks to have them deliver to your house if it was in a few km. I just checked, and one of the smaller chains (4 stores) has their own online ordering platform.
Also in my neighborhood: Google Express offers home delivery of lots of stuff. Amazon Prime Now offers home delivery of lots of stuff. But your local stores-that-deliver doesn't argue against Instacart. Isn't it in their interest to outsource that chore to someone instead of paying their own drivers?
Amazon, on the other hand, I would be worried about id I were instscart.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Their revenue numbers must look absolutely insane, even if they're not actually profitable. I spend more money through instacart right now than any other software, and maybe all other software I use, combined.
Not appropriate to count entire cart/shopping spend as Instacart's revenue. Think of that as "GMV". Instacart's revenue is their delivery charges, service charges, and any money the stores pay them / % fees. See #6 here http://a16z.com/2015/08/21/16-metrics/
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Every supermarket in Montrela offers phone orders and home delivery for a fee of less than $5 if your order is big enough ($50+). If you want to, you can even do your shopping in the store, and pay about two bucks to have them deliver to your house if it was in a few km. I just checked, and one of the smaller chains (4 stores) has their own online ordering platform.
None of my grocery stores within the 60 minute range offer delivery. I wish they did. I live outside of a major city, in a pretty wealthy area. There is no instacart, no amazon fresh, etc. Uber doesn't even deliver here. It's pretty lame and the population exists to support even just one of these services. Aggravates me a lot..which is an understatement.