Ordering Groceries Online with Amazon Fresh

[Rob Williams]

The business of delivering groceries straight to the customer's door is a tough one, and up to now there hasn't been definitive success - not even from Walmart. But, Amazon sees past that challenge and has revived its 'Fresh' service with limited access in Seattle that allows customers to purchase their groceries and other items online and then opt-in for home delivery. We do it with take-out, why not an entire grocery order?

Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

 

[Kayden]

I would use it since I can not drive, legally. (c;

I do have options to get to the store and the idea of online shopping is not a bad one but I would still prefer to look at what I am buying before I buy it, especially in the area of fruits of veggies.

 

[Tharic-Nar]

Honestly, I thought the US already had something like this... Here in the UK, it's big business and nearly all the main supermarket chains have online ordering, from Tesco, ASDA (Walmart), Adeco (waitrose) and the newly launched MilkandMore service. We've been able to order groceries online for years and it's pretty decent for the most part. The only downside is enforced item substitution to which the replacement is left up to the picker (buy a bottle of red and get a white instead, or you order Heinz Beans and get Market own-brand). It can still be cheaper to go to the local store, since they do local offers and the prices reflect the local area, the online prices are usually nationwide matched, so depending where you live, you can pay a lot more ordering online.

 

[Optix]

I'd order a boxes of condoms, 3 gallons of sunflower oil, a funnel, rubber gloves, some steel wool and the biggest cucumber available. If they sold a cow in rubber pants, I'd order that too.

I wonder what the delivery person would think...

 

[Kayden]

I'd order a boxes of condoms, 3 gallons of sunflower oil, a funnel, rubber gloves, some steel wool and the biggest cucumber available. If they sold a cow in rubber pants, I'd order that too.

I wonder what the delivery person would think...

If I were the delivery person and since you didn't say what size of condoms I would bring you the extra small. The only thing I would think is "If this is the definition of what safe sex mean in Canada, he needs to stop visiting Iowa." (c;

 

[Kougar]

Optix, it's people like you that scare me sometimes... that sounds like fun.

Honestly, I thought the US already had something like this...

Most NON-grocery stores in the US offer online ordering and in-store pickup, but not even Walmart offers it for groceries. The only stores I know of that allow online ordering for food are Costco and Sam's Club, but even then I don't know how they handle refrigerated items, and you must still go pick the stuff up at the store.

I may be the odd guy out but I DO enjoy going to the supermarket... at least the upscale ones. The stuff one can find is always interesting, and there are always new foods or things I'd not have thought of before that were typically found elsewhere in the world. The wider varieties and fresher produce & breads are a big plus too.

Which brings up my issue with online ordering... if I ordered a pineapple and it showed up anything like what Walmart usually stocks, what's the buyer to do? I enjoy a good pineapple, but "black & brown" pineapples are not one of them. I've seen a table full of completely blackened pineapples on multiple occasions at a walmart, even. Walmart is nothing but consistent on that score.

I'm not sure I'd ever trust an online store to give me really good produce consistently. Not to mention I know which brands sell consistently better quality pineapples. Given that almost every supermarket I've seen rotates produce brands every week, people truly won't know what they're ordering when it comes to produce. Honestly, produce is the largest reason for even making frequent trips to the store.