Online Grocery Finds Niche
By George Anderson
The closing of PublixDirect recast doubt about the viability of online grocery services in the minds of many.
Those don’t include customers of FreshDirect, MyWebGrocer, LowesFood.com, WeGoShop, Peapod and other direct delivery and/or store pickup services, according to a New York
Times article written by Michelle Slatalla.
According to the piece, successful online grocery services have become so by focusing on a specific customer niche.
In New York, Ms. Slatalla jokes, FreshDirect’s niche might include “time-stressed food sophisticates who have rude friends and no off-street parking (or even cars) available
for unloading their own grocery bags.”
WeGoShop, on the other hand, appeals to a completely different consumer segment. The service’s typical customer, says the company’s owner, Jason Linton “is a senior citizen,
but not necessarily one who spends time on the Internet, so we will take phone orders, too.”
Moderator’s Comment: The New York Times articles asks if online grocery services will work outside densely populated
areas. Will they? [George
Anderson – Moderator]