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Abstract:
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E-business is marching on in several markets, but not in one important one: the grocery market. The
lesson learned in the last ten, fifteen years, from brick-and-mortar supermarkets going online, is,
that it is very difficult to profit from digitalizing the daily buying of groceries.
All consumption research shows that online grocery business still has a lot of
functional, e.g. technical and sensory, disadvantages to offline ditto. Apparently it is not much
easier to plan, choose and buy groceries online than in the traditional retailer/supermarket. Some of
the relative few experienced grocery consumers supports the theory that one may save some time
and effort getting ones groceries packed and delivered, but to the majority this is obviously just not
good enough, especially when accounting the delivery fee.
However, the functional disadvantage explanation cannot stand alone as an answer to
why online grocery business is not more of a success - and it may even be overrated. New sales
channels have always had the "disadvantage" of not functioning like/as good as the old ones. To
me, another interesting issue to the subject seems to be about consumer values and how their
practising is not supported in this new sales channel.... |
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