How The Internet Is Changing Grocery Shopping

This is a personal antidote that will exemplify what is taking place and how industries can be affected.

The world of groceries isn't something that changed a great deal. Even the giant Amazon was unable to radically change the nature of the business after the purchase of Whole foods.

Basically, we are still looking at an industry where people show up, fill their carts with what they need, go through the checkout, and head home. It was done like this for decades.

This is all about to change.


Source

Grocery Delivery

Many stores are now delivering groceries. This is something that started in the United States a couple years ago. It is now picking up steam.

While this is a change, it is not the impact on the customer so much as what it does for companies.

Kroger is one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.S. They did something interesting in central Florida that epitomizes how the Internet is changing things.

It allows people to place their orders via an application. This is the norm these days as almost every major company has some type of app.

What is different is how Kroger is expanding.

They entered a new market without opening up a single store. Instead, they simply set up a warehouse. There is no in-store service available. All orders are placed through the applications and delivered to the residence.

From the warehouse, they will deliver anywhere within 90 miles.

The result is they could enter a new market for a fraction of the cost of what it would normally cost. Also, the ongoing operations are likely a great deal lower. Obviously, warehouse space is a lot less expensive than retail. At the same time, it is likely that the warehouse is heavily automated.

Disruption Takes On Many Forms

Is this disruption?

I am not sure it is considered at the level of disruption but it is changing the industry. The fact that people are more willing to buy groceries online is opening up a slew of possibilities.

One thing we can see this concept replicated. There really is nothing that is stopping other chains from doing the same thing. Each market could see a flood of new entrants if they duplicate what Kroger is doing.

There is no reason to believe others are not doing the same thing elsewhere.

We are seeing a change in shopping habits. Does this lead to other advancements such as drones? Perhaps.

What other innovations are we looking at? This is hard to tell. food is something that everyone needs so the demand is not going to disappear.

The digital world is changing everything. Even something as basic as food is getting upended.


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12 comments
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There have been grocery delivery services for a while. Instacart, Shipt, and Doordash all do grocery delivery to many areas. Between Jan and April, when I didn't have any access to a vehicle and living out in the middle of nowhere, those were my lifelines. Fees can be a bit expensive, but it's totally worth it in many cases to let someone do the shopping and bring it to you.

Stores like Kroger, who also now owns Safeway/Albertsons (former employee), and other chains mainly do the shopping and have it ready for the drivers, or for curbside pickup. Amazon also has their Flex service which does deliver from Whole Foods, so that is a thing too. It's becoming more and more prevalent. Kroger does have a delivery service of their own, but it's still dominated by the third party services because they don't have to hire people and give them benefits.

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It's changing the all the facets of life.🤩

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I'm surprised it's relatively new or not very common in the US. Online grocery shopping boomed in the Philippines when the pandemic happened and people were scared to go out. Initially private companies offered it and they hired 'shoppers' that go to the groceries and do the actual picking of items for the client. They then have a delivery service send it to the house of the client. Eventually the grocery chains did this on their own.

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Yeah. It was slow adoption in the US but it appears to be gaining some steam now.

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The internet is really revolving a whole lot of things in our society most especially the shopping aspect

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It is quite fascinating that the world of Internet is really making the world a better place and overall our society generally

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Well for me i would say Kroger sure knows how to get those cash for people. Service create and value brings cash. In my locality just the rich request for home delivery in grocery shopping. we the average explore the market

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