Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] paying the sales tax

[Michael <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

> > I still think it's a very workable business idea. You can get the
> > benefits of shopping online and shopping from a local brick and mortar
> > all in one place so why not use it? Heck, people are ordering toilets
> > and shower stalls from me online so I think I could sell darn near
> > anything and get it delivered.
>
> Definitely true with groceries.  If you can make a good web interface that
> remembers people's shopping lists, offers sale prices, etc., people will
> be happy to pay a little more to have someone grab and bag their groceries
> for them.

Groceries, and fresh food, are tricky because they need to be delivered right away. Not impossible but you can't just load up a big van a couple times a day and deliver to lots of people at once. You could have things to keep hot or cold as needed in your van but it's still more time sensitive and an extra expense. Doable but I'd do it after I was already established.

Price comparison would be a nice feature of online shopping though - especially good for groceries I think. Do a search of all local stores from a single handy interface and find out that store A has a can of soup for $1.20 while store B has the same soup for $.55. Then since you can order from more than one store and have it all delivered at once you don't have to pick one store or the other to do all your shopping from. You can pick and choose.

Schnuck's used to offer this in Columbia, but I don't know if is/was a
success for them. Some of you .com types might remember Peapod, which
was in the grocery delivery business as well. They had hard times, but
amazingly enough they do still exist. They are apparently doing okay
in the DC metro area, partnered with (I believe) Giant.

There were a lot of these companies. Most bombed for the usual dot com reason - over spending on stupid crap.
 

Like a lot of things, to make something like this really work, it
looks like you generally either need to really low density (where the
service is then a lot like mail order) or really high density (where
you have the stores, but driving to them can be arbitrarily painful).
In a place like Columbia, people are still just as likely to hop in
the car and drive to the store. Which reminds me: you folks have three
Wal*Marts now, right? Has this had any effect on traffic?

I don't necessarily agree. My experience is that certain segments will always think driving to the store and shopping is inconvenient. I live in a small town right now, with adequate access to most goods, but it's still easier to just hope online and order something than it is to hop from store to store trying to park, trying to find the right item, trying to compare prices, etc. Why not just order it online and let someone deliver it to your house that same day? Or maybe order it online and pick it up when it's convenient without having to shop around to find what you want? Or even just window shop from your computer and then you know which stores to hit when you go out.

Would you buy from Amazon if the local bookstore could be browsed online, had the same book for around the same price, cheaper shipping, and you could have it today? What if you could buy several books and pay the same shipping?

I'm actually shocked at some of the stuff I sell online. People buy toilets, shower stalls, huge commercial air conditioners, hot tubs, pipe, toilet seats, weed killer, and all kinds of crazy things online. Probably our biggest issue is figuring out how to ship things. Something that isn't an issue if the customer is within our delivery area. We just send our own crew with our own vehicle and it's just taken care of for very little expense. If I can get a 30ft long swim spa delivered to your backyard I think I can handle getting a few books delivered. :)

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