Dot-Com Flashback: Amazon Revives Grocery Delivery

How is this a viable business venture?

Thursday, August 2, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News

Back in the late 90s, when everyone was going crazy with Internet-based services and business ventures that made absolutely no sense, there was a company called Webvan, whose entire deal was they would do the grocery shopping for you and deliver it to your door for a fee (of course, assuming you lived in specific areas).  Needless to say, this company took a nose-dive and the seemingly useless service of Internet grocery shopping went the way of the dodo.  Well, it seems that Amazon didn't get the memo on how bad the idea was.

So, Amazon has quietly launched a new services with limited availability called Amazon Fresh.  Like Webvan, you do your product selection online, and then have the dirty work of driving to the store, walking around, picking items off the shelf and then walking out and driving home taken care of for you.  Details are scarce on what areas are being served by the new service, but reports have cropped up of people spotting Amazon Fresh vans in the Seattle area.

If home-delivered groceries is your thing, keep an eye on Amazon Fresh.

9 Reply 13 Referrals
kopite
Reply #1 Thursday, August 2, 2007 12:15 PM
That's quite odd. Here in the UK supermarkets have been doing online grocery shopping for years. Had a sainsburys delivery mayself just a few days ago in fact!

John Head
Reply #2 Thursday, August 2, 2007 3:59 PM
Peapod is alive and strong here in Chicago ... so what is so new about this?

Fuzzy Logic
Reply #3 Thursday, August 2, 2007 5:05 PM

seemingly useless service of Internet grocery shopping went the way of the dodo

In your country maybe. I have mine delivered weekly by Tesco (UK). It costs less to have it delivered than it does to buy petrol to go to the shop. Plus you you don't have to go searching the shop, waiting in queues, or suffer women driving trolleys like maniacs.

Time to arrive in this century   


GaCrownVic
Reply #4 Thursday, August 2, 2007 6:52 PM
My wife and I used Webvan when it was in Atlanta. It was a great service since both of us worked in the IT field (70+ Hrs a week) it was great to have someone else do the shopping. It was a great service and we were really diappointed when it closed.

shukcb04
Reply #5 Thursday, August 2, 2007 7:55 PM
i'll do this when walmart starts doing it. i get tons of the great value/equate (the wal-mart brand) products because they are cheaper and the same thing as the name brands.

vStyler
Reply #6 Thursday, August 2, 2007 7:55 PM
I'll take a Cheeseburger and Onion Rings...

oh.. they don't prepare the food?   

The biggest difference here in the US is.. drive time \ distance \ gas.

DeltaZ0912
Reply #7 Friday, August 3, 2007 8:03 AM
Peapod is doing quite well here in Maryland. I see their delivery trucks all over the place. It wasn't that WebVan had a bad idea, they just had a wretched business model - as did most of the dot-coms that imploded at the time. Heck, Amazon has often been accused of having a wretched business model....

Don't get me started about Wal-Mart.

bobbyhundreds
Reply #8 Saturday, August 4, 2007 9:15 AM
I'm a lazy bugger and I also have a pathological fear of women with shopping trollies  so my groceries are delivered fortnightly from Tesco by some stoner in van with dub reggae booming out of the hifi.
It's quite funny when they don't have something in stock they replace it with something they think is similar.I had a bunch of cut carnations turn up one week...as a replacement for self raising flour.    

Kamafucktra
Reply #9 Saturday, August 4, 2007 5:20 PM
There's a company called Schwan's that I order from on occasion. They're very good, but the selection is not quite as great as a grocery store. This will be something I'll keep an eye on.

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