Posted on 03/23/2017 12:49:20 PM PDT by publius911
"It's no secret that Amazon (AMZN) is upending retail, with a new bankruptcy filing or store closure announcement coming nearly every day since the beginning of March from traffic starved bricks-and-mortar retailers."
"And the digital beast is showing no signs of letting up."
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
“Killing off bricks and mortar retail isn’t always the best thing, even if you do save money.”
Price matters, but convenience and having exponentially more choices are my primary reasons for shopping on line.
I've seen some grocery stores that have carry out restaurant food. You name it, they have it. It is already cooked. Just heat it up when you get home. There is a pretty good markup on the food, but it is much cheaper than going to a restaurant if your in a hurry or don't like to cook. These are in upscale neighborhoods.
Wegman’s take out dinners are delicious——good size servings and in my case does me for 2 meals.
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We had a grocery store just open up that is trying to do the same thing. But it has about a quarter of the selections of the ones I’ve seen in upscale neighborhoods.
“But it has about a quarter of the selections of the ones I’ve seen in upscale neighborhoods.”
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Is it the same supermarket chain? That would annoy me.
In my area we are awash in different supermarkets but Wegman’s has the best selection of takeout meals.
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I read somewhere that Sears (or was it Montgomery Ward?) in the early internet days scoffed at the notion of adopting online ordering. They could've been Amazon before Amazon was ever a thing. Oh well.
They are local stores or small regional stores in each instance..
I do know that, following WW2, ol’ “Monkey Wards” scoffed at the idea of stores in suburban malls...they even fired the executive who suggested the idea. He went to Sears, who ran with his idea and left Ward’s in the dust.
Some variation of that’s been around for a while. 15 years ago our local Safeway had Thanksgiving in a box, all the parts heat and serve. It’s been ramping up lately, probably because take and bake not quite restaurants have been on the rise (like Papa Murphy’s pizza), renewing interest in that market. Websites like Homechef do that one better, pick your menu for the week, get all the parts in the mail. There’s even one where you can get the equipment, I was jealous that didn’t exist when I was first establishing a home, great way to get kitchen utensils you need as you learn you need them.
These stores go beyond the fried chicken, pork chop and lasagna meal. They have many varieties of fish, steak, veal, chicken meals. In the upscale store they have Filet Mignon steaks already cooked. They must know they are going to sell them if they are confident enough to cook them in advance.
Yeah I’ve seen them, my favorite store’s butcher counter has some. The websites have anywhere from 50 to a couple thousand options to chose from.
Actually probably most of them are made from food about to expire. It’s a good way to add a week of storage, and you get to charge more. Win win.
Seems to me selling about to expire food to higher wealth individuals would be a bad business model. If they find out, the store goes out of business.
+1
The "asking questions and getting answers about products" part of WMT's site is essentially nonexistent.
No it’s an excellent business model. For one thing most meats actually taste better the closer they get to expiration (curing, it’s your friend). And once you cook it you start a new clock, it’s no longer aging as uncooked meat, you just bought another week (handy to keep in mind at home too, I’ve cooked a few things straight to leftovers because they were getting old).
I think Fresh Food retail is going to change dramatically.
I have not bought groceries at a store in 6 months.
I use Shipt.
For 99 bucks a year, I can have a personal shopper do all my shopping for me. I’ve used the same woman repeatedly and she now knows that if Item A is out of stock, Item B is acceptable.
This begs the question, if this expands, wouldn’t it make more sense for HEB and Kroger to have one large centralized store in an area than one for each neighborhood. If 50 percent of the people in a store are “professionals” who have the layout and prices memorized and have coolers in their trunk, why does it matter if the store is 15 minutes or 5 minutes away. Reduce your footprint, shorten your supply chain, and lower prices.
Seriously, I there is a Kroger 5 minutes from me to the west, 7 minutes from me to the east and 10 minute from to the North. I assume there is one 15 minutes from me to the South, but I rarely go that direction and don’t know the neighborhood.
I think Fresh Food retail is going to change dramatically.
I have not bought groceries at a store in 6 months.
I use Shipt.
For 99 bucks a year, I can have a personal shopper do all my shopping for me. I’ve used the same woman repeatedly and she now knows that if Item A is out of stock, Item B is acceptable.
This begs the question, if this expands, wouldn’t it make more sense for HEB and Kroger to have one large centralized store in an area than one for each neighborhood. If 50 percent of the people in a store are “professionals” who have the layout and prices memorized and have coolers in their trunk, why does it matter if the store is 15 minutes or 5 minutes away. Reduce your footprint, shorten your supply chain, and lower prices.
Seriously, I there is a Kroger 5 minutes from me to the west, 7 minutes from me to the east and 10 minute from to the North. I assume there is one 15 minutes from me to the South, but I rarely go that direction and don’t know the neighborhood.
I think Fresh Food retail is going to change dramatically.
I have not bought groceries at a store in 6 months.
I use Shipt.
For 99 bucks a year, I can have a personal shopper do all my shopping for me. I’ve used the same woman repeatedly and she now knows that if Item A is out of stock, Item B is acceptable.
This begs the question, if this expands, wouldn’t it make more sense for HEB and Kroger to have one large centralized store in an area than one for each neighborhood. If 50 percent of the people in a store are “professionals” who have the layout and prices memorized and have coolers in their trunk, why does it matter if the store is 15 minutes or 5 minutes away. Reduce your footprint, shorten your supply chain, and lower prices.
Seriously, I there is a Kroger 5 minutes from me to the west, 7 minutes from me to the east and 10 minute from to the North. I assume there is one 15 minutes from me to the South, but I rarely go that direction and don’t know the neighborhood.
I was born in ‘73. So I remember the arrival of the Sears Christmas Catalogue being the third most important day of the year behind Christmas and my birthday.
However, I don’t remember a single person in my family ever actually ordering from a Sears Catalogue. It seemed to be the reverse of how Amazon works now. You decided what you wanted by reading the catalogue. Then you drove the 15 minutes to Sears to get it.
Who wanted to wait a week for curtains when you could have them hanging in the bedroom that afternoon?
(Now people go to stores to decide what curtains they want and then buy them online at the cheapest price. I haven’t made an in-store purchase in five years without doing a google search first).
This isn’t about high tech, new ideas, or even convenience.
Amazon is winning for a simple old fashioned reason. It has better prices.
You can bet that if Sears could give the similar products at a lower overall price, then I’d buy at Sears.
“Amazon is winning for a simple old fashioned reason. It has better prices.”
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Yes,and superior service and an easy to use website.
I have their credit card also——and earn many points because I use it for everything and always pay the bill in full.
I’m 84 years old and have been ordering from them for quite a few years. If I find it easy,anyone could use it.
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