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See Full StoryIsn't it great to see a new round of online grocery battles breaking out? The grocery chains
expanding up and down the West Coast have a new model, one that relies on existing stores
rather than on expensive distribution networks built from scratch. But fast-forward a bit
and it still appears that this war will end like a late-night poker game. No one has a
winning hand, so whoever is most willing to keep putting more money on the table will
walk away victorious.
I never shopped at Albertsons. Never. We always went to Ralph's. (A California chain.) Never Vons, never Pavilions, never Jons, never Albertsons.
Until Albertsons started advertising that they were doing home delivery.
Now we spend about $100 a week with them for probably 95% of our grocery needs.
Now, if Ralphs would have home delivery, things would be perfect. But barring that, Albertons is doing quite well by us.
Until Albertsons started advertising that they were doing home delivery.
Now we spend about $100 a week with them for probably 95% of our grocery needs.
Now, if Ralphs would have home delivery, things would be perfect. But barring that, Albertons is doing quite well by us.
One of Webvan's biggest costs was that they could only average about 3 deliveries per truck per hour; yet if only that would have been 6, their delivery cost would have been cut in half. If Albertson's or any other grocer hopes to do better than Webvan, they must significantly increase their rate of delivery, but two things currently stand in their way. First, delivery must be made when somebody is home. Second, a survey last June discovered that if nobody could be home to receive home-delivered goods, 78.6% wouldn't be likely to even order them in the first place.
