Amazon Subsidiary Gets Into Grocery Business

Amazon has such a hardcore following that it's safe to assume that many of its shoppers would have no problem trying out the grocery end of it. As for Soap.com, as I just visited the site, I don't see any prices on their home page. Strange, especially for what they are selling. The free shipping splashes are great but is the pricing actually competitive? I would have to click further to find out, and in this game you want to keep clicks to an absolute minimum. The browsing strategies that work in real life do not translate into the online world and, as far as I'm concerned, Soap.com has as serious signage problem. In terms of categories, Soap pretty much has everything covered and adding more would probably make the site look even busier that it already is. The real major I'm not seeing is wine and booze (where applicable by law).

Doron Levy, President, TheMortgageMachine.ca

It doesn't really matter where consumers choose to purchase, Amazon shareholders win. It will be interesting to see how many and which grocery products consumers will be willing to purchase online. Internet history is littered with the wreckage of companies that tried to get into the grocery business.

Max Goldberg, Founding Partner, The Radical Clarity Group

Marc Lore says it well. "Our philosophy is to make our customers' lives easier." That is what online retail is all about. And Amazon and friends sure do a good job of that. There is no question that the bulk of core-store grocery purchases are going to move online. For these types of products, there is no reason to go to a supermarket. Tide is Tide; does the shopper really have to look at the shelf, touch the product and make a decision?

Consistent with making it all easier, Soap.com has developed a logical landing place for such products. It has a more efficient purpose and will be easier to navigate than Amazon.com. This thinking is the brilliance of Amazon. They think about how best to service the customer first. Then they develop their activities to make the customer's life simple.

Gene Detroyer, Professor, Entrepreneur, Adviser, Consultant, Independent

Quidsi is the new category killer concept, on-line, that mirrors the late century concept of specialty stores in the more traditional sense.

David Biernbaum, Senior Marketing and Business Development Consultant, David Biernbaum Associates

In many ways, it would be hard to bet against their success based on Amazon's track record, but as has been pointed out, online grocery has been tried by many and failed. However, as time goes by, more and more people are comfortable with online purchases and grocery should be no exception. Pricing will be a critical element as convenience alone I don't think is a big enough draw. Plus, shoppers still have to use other sources for fresh and perishables, which detracts from the convenience significantly in my view.

I think it will take some time for them to make an impact. Will they have the staying power and resources to do that?

Art Williams, Retail Marketing Consultant/Analyst, Independent

I like the move into grocery and see this having plenty of mileage. All these concepts are in their infancy, but it's hard to see them doing anything other than growing and driving a greater competitive impact. It will be interesting to see how traditional players respond.

Matthew Keylock, Senior Vice President, New Business Development and Partnerships, dunnhumbyUSA

Amazon knows how to treat consumers to a good shopping experience with easy to navigate sites, useful adds, immediate help and more. As long as they stay consumer centric in their approach across their subsidiaries, it will grow here.

Anne Bieler, Sr. Associate, Packaging and Technology Integrated Solutions