tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023018867778958193.post1547448027721226966..comments2023-12-15T00:16:54.199-08:00Comments on Fresh & Easy Buzz: A Walmart Grocery Home Delivery Service in San Jose, California Wouldn't Likely Be Much to Write Home AboutFresh & Easy Buzzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339190145395775927noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023018867778958193.post-38262036508161305632011-04-12T12:50:04.112-07:002011-04-12T12:50:04.112-07:00Thanks for the comment anon April 10, 2011 5:06 PM...Thanks for the comment anon April 10, 2011 5:06 PM<br /><br />The issue isn't really if Walmart can set up an online grocery ordering and home delivery service -it's really a piece of cake to do so these days. Plus Walmart already has much of the digital technology, along with thousands of SKUs of grocery items, set up on its Walmart.com site. Rather, it's if a Walmart home delivery service makes any sense in the metro San Jose area from a business segment standpoint. As my column suggests, I come down on the side that it doesn't make sense at this point in time. Of course, I could be wrong.<br /><br />-The InsiderFresh & Easy Buzzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06339190145395775927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023018867778958193.post-20387517594575165532011-04-12T00:27:51.154-07:002011-04-12T00:27:51.154-07:00Walmart might do well in San Francisco, with many ...Walmart might do well in San Francisco, with many people who don't own cars, but dislike being gouged by their corner bodega.James Sinclairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00948509061118072998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023018867778958193.post-75195627745026120052011-04-10T19:11:03.156-07:002011-04-10T19:11:03.156-07:00I don't see a Wal-Mart home delivery service m...I don't see a Wal-Mart home delivery service making much of an impact in San Jose or the Bay Area. We just have too many retail options when it comes to buying fresh food and groceries.<br /><br />What are they going to do, beat Safeway on price and offer lower delivery charges? Even so, Safeway has been around years with home delivery and I doubt if its core users are going to switch for a small cost savings.<br /><br />Also some of the most popular stores here are Whole Foods, Costco, Trader Joe's and independents like Mollie Stones and Lunardi's. I doubt Walmart can poach any of these customers with home delivery.<br /><br />On gas prices, remember the price per gallon/liter is more than twice as much in the U.K. as it is in the U.S. Very few people in the Bay Area live more than a mile or so from at least two grocery stores.Roger C.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023018867778958193.post-23940535963591390122011-04-10T17:06:52.215-07:002011-04-10T17:06:52.215-07:00Regarding the Morrison's investment. I missed...Regarding the Morrison's investment. I missed that article. <br /><br />It's a smart move to get some process and systems from someone already in the business, and there aren't too many to choose from.<br /><br />Regarding ASDA--I understand that ASDA's systems have a lot in common with the systems used in Wallmart stores (and commonality of store systems is a key point if the order is picked from store), so from a process and system standpoint Wallmart could start an ecommerce offering pretty quickly; the main barrier would be rich product data (photos, ingredients etc)--there are agencies that supply this in the UK.<br /><br />Referencing back to the Safeway $15 new customer inducement: All the UK players are doing this as well, to grab new customers where the can. Home delivery covers a wider social spectrum and is still increasing (slowly), customers didn't tend to shop multi chains (fuel prices deter this), or, if they did, they would alternate between 2 or do an up or downmarket "fill in" (e. g. Marks and Spencers for a few "treats" with the rest from ASDA) <br /><br />Home delivery is increasing primarily because fuel is so expensive (£1.30/l--almost $2, approx $10 per US gallon), delivery charges have stayed the same. The recent crop of phone apps has also increased the audience and moved it to a more "little and often" task.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023018867778958193.post-17620259663842571772011-04-09T17:29:49.013-07:002011-04-09T17:29:49.013-07:00Thanks for your comment Anon. April 9, 2011 5:11 P...Thanks for your comment Anon. April 9, 2011 5:11 PM<br /><br />Regarding the Tesco-Safeway-Grocery Works connection, Safeway parted ways with Tesco on the venture many years before it decided to start up Fresh & Easy in the U.S. The relationship didn't last very long. We've written about the relationship elsewhere on the blog a few times. Most recently, for example, if you click on the story -December 22, 2010: Safeway Wants to Grow its Online-Home Delivery Grocery Business - And is 'Giving Away the Store' to Prove it - we have a summary of the history of the relationship under the "Safeway's cyber-grocery beginnings" sub-heading.<br /><br />You're correct on the online-ordering grocery home delivery info for the UK, including the fact WMT's ASDA has a service. But I wouldn't go beyond that to make a comparison between the U.S. and the UK regarding the concept, except to say Walmart has experience in doing it by virtue of ASDA. Other than that, are two very different markets, two very different sets of circumstances.<br /><br />And, of course, Morrison's just recently made a $50 million investment in online-home delivery service FreshDirect. Smart move I think. Great way to go to school on FD for Morrison's upcoming UK service launch. Also cheap way to get into the U.S. market in a minor way. <br /><br />What do you think of the investment?<br /><br />-The InsiderFresh & Easy Buzzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06339190145395775927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023018867778958193.post-66439560557659203182011-04-09T17:11:08.353-07:002011-04-09T17:11:08.353-07:00A few extra facts pertinent to this great post.
1...A few extra facts pertinent to this great post.<br /><br />1/ Safeway.com. This is a legacy of the Safeway/Tesco "Groceryworks" joint venture, which was dissolved when Tesco started work on Fresh & Easy (obviously). Tesco provided the software and process. I believe the software platform that Safeway uses is still based on the Tesco put into the joint venture (Tesco has redeveloped since); a google search of safeway.com for the word Tesco used to return the copyright statement for the web pages! <br /><br />2/ The UK subsidiary of wallmart (ASDA) already does home delivery, I believe they serve about 20 miles from each store (which still leaves many gaps). it's a competitive place, with all the majors offering it for a charge of about $4-$6 for a booked 1-2 hour slot (sometimes waived for large orders). Tesco.com (biggest in the world on UK volumes alone), Ocado (webvan-live newer startup), Sainsbury, Waitrose, Asda, and Morrison's expected to start soon. The hard discounters (Aldi, Lidl) dont offer it, and the Co-op/Somerfield only offer a "carry to home" service from some stores.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com