Alright, I fully understand the therapeutic properties of full-blown grocery/supermarket shopping. I know many people who, when having problems at home or elsewhere, go shopping and return with a calmer attitude and cooler head. However, there are some people who would pay money for a more convenient method of shopping, especially if they are challenged by schedules and time management.
The first idea is for me to create a supermarket with "hired shoppers". One can enter the supermarket, give one of these hired shoppers a list of what to buy, and stay and wait in a nearby restaurant, cafe, or bar supplied by the same supermarket. While the customer is waiting, the hired shopper goes around with a cart, adding the products on the list inside it. When the collection of items is done, the hired shopper can then approach the customer with all products already in grocery bags. The customer is then charged with the bill for all products, plus a service charge.
The second idea is for a supermarket delivery system. This is quite easy, very much like calling a restaurant to have food delivered. All the customer has to do is phone the supermarket and order a bunch of products. The supermarket then sends a delivery person to load all products in a car and take it to the customer's home. The customer will then be billed for all products and service charges.
These ideas would definitely contribute to the wave of laziness now blanketing the world, but it can be useful in times and situations that call for the customer's presence to be focused elsewhere. What do you think?
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The first real tax paying job I had in 1969 was grocery delivery for a small neighborhood store. It worked exactly as you have proposed. The customer called in an order, I walked through the store and collected his order, rang it up, delivered the lot to his front door, and collected the payment.
But, come to think of it, I haven't seen this service offered since the oil embargo of the mid-seventies.
In the UK all the big supermarkets work home delivery exactly as you proposed charging a fee for the delivery, Asda, Waitrose & Tesco the most successful of them has a charge based on the time you take the delivery. eg. Wednesday £4($7) Saturday £6($10). They have employees who go round the shop and refigerated delivery vans, they will replace anything they dont have on the day with something of similar quality/price unless you request them not to.
link above should be www.tesco.com
i remember watching an episode of one of those early morning lifestlye shows in the philippines that featured this kind of shopping service. i think that was roughly a year ago. some people actually work as personal shoppers for those who are just too busy (or lazy) to shop for their own clothes, like businesspeople who are always on the go. so the personal shopper interviews the client for like half an hour on the nature of his/her profession, usual activities, personal preferences and quirks, body size, etc. of course, the personal shopper must be an expert in fashion, garments, etc. and must have an eye for certain things that can help the client in his/her work.
Queer eye? nah.
i like your idea of the proxy shopper though, especially for groceries. another benefit impulsive buyers like me can save a lot of money this way since the personal shopper just gets what's on the list.
Awesome. Thanks for the links and comments you guys. (Moonstomper in case you see this again, I'm also from the Philippines)
Check out www.FreshDirect.com and use Zip Code 10001 to access the site. I think it's almost exactly what your talking about however its based out of New York, NY. They can even do automatic weekly dilveres based on your request.
As Daren saysm, here in the UK we have a shelf-to-customer oredr and delivery system from major supermarkets up an running - and I know the US grocery giants have been particularly interested in the Tesco model. But let's not get too excited. Users aren't always ecstatic in their praise because, while you as customer can define time and date of delivery and what you want, you can't be there to inspect quality and ensure the order is correctly understood. So you get the fruit, veg, fresh meat etc. chosen for you (and that means what is left or, worse, the bad fruit the store manager can't shift to 'present in store' customers) and you have to hope that in-store communication works and doesn't turn into a game of Chinese whispers (at Christmas I want mince pies, but I get mint and peas delivered instead - it is happening and it's putting off customers).
The payoff for the supermarkets of the Tesco model is that you can overstock in store and still clear your shelves, you have no additional warehouse costs, you can shrink your checkout queues and ensure that those who can't shop with you just now can do so anyway electronically.
A way forward for the model might be to do the equivalent of what every Brit will recognise as the milk delivery round of yesteryear. When I was a child a milk float would come in the early morning and leave milk outside the front door; each week my parents would pay a bill for the delivery of the same item, at the same time, for a fixed number of days. So what about a 'weekly fixed items delivery list' for supermarkets? You'd sign up for delivery at a fixed time of five to ten fixed items from an inventory (milk, bread, sugar, butter...whatever) on the same basis as you would have done with the milk delivery person before. That would probably encourage MORE use of online ordering and delivery since the idea of submitting and ordering a whole week's shopping - with the problems above - is probably for only a few customers.
Pink Dot is a company that does this in Los Angeles. They have franchise opportunities advertised on their web site.