For at least 30 years, people have thought there is a business in delivering groceries. But nobody's ever been truly successful with home delivery of groceries except in New York and San Francisco. Yet that could all be about to change.
There is a fast growing company called Instacart that does grocery home delivery, and it's adding cities all the time. Users pay $5 plus a tip to the person who delivers the groceries. Of course, consumers are trusting somebody else to pick out their produce, so this isn't ideal for people who are really picky about fruits and vegetables. But the convenience of not being able to go to the supermarket is something that a lot of people love.
Now comes word that Target is going to team up with Instacart in the Red Retailer's home market of Minneapolis. Other markets are being eyed for expansion if this test goes well.
Other notable grocery delivery services include Amazon Fresh (California, New York and Seattle), Peapod (Chicago, D.C., Philadelphia, most of New England) and Deliveer (Vancouver, Los Angeles, Toronto and Chicago).
Meanwhile, Walmart is offering free pickup of groceries that you order online in select markets. This service was recently expanded to Atlanta, GA; Charlotte and Fayetteville, NC; Nashville, TN; Tucson, AZ; Colorado Springs, CO; and Salt Lake City and Ogden, UT, according to Zacks Equity Research.
Traditional supermarkets are under assault from every direction. Traditional players have the high-end competitors like Whole Foods, the off-beat guys like Trader Joe's, the hard discounters like Aldi and Save-a-Lot and then the national warehouse club chains Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale. It's not a happy business to be in, with some supermarket chains shrinking and others even going bankrupt.
The real winner in all the turmoil is the consumer. Clark Howard predicts that getting delivery of groceries, or pick up of what someone has packed for a la Walmart, will be common and routine with the next 24 months.
