It’s an interesting match with a disruptive technology pairing with a 20th century retailing success. At Wal-Mart’s Annual Conference held on June 1st, it was announced that Wal-Mart Stores will test grocery delivery with Uber and Lyft drivers, starting with Uber in Phoenix and Lyft in Denver by mid June.
Customers pick groceries online, employees package the groceries, and Uber and/or Lyft drivers deliver them. The service charge for such service is in the ten-dollar range.
The intent is to take advantage of the shift as North Americans continue to spend more with on-line purchases. Howard Schultz the CEO of Starbucks was also saying to shareholders that Starbucks outlets would be rebranded as “destinations” now that shopping mall traffic is diminishing. Now you will go to the mall to “experience” Starbucks.
This article in Toronto’s Star newspaper describes more. The City of Vancouver was at first reluctant to accept the Wal-Mart model back in the day. Will this kind of on-line grocery shopping and “uberlivery” or “delyft” be mainstream and part of Metro Vancouver’s future?
Uber ? Isn’t that the evil union busting cab destroying mayoral election donation refusing entity ?
Will we ever get this to the “greenest” city ?
Let’s bike more instead.
Just this morning I picked up my online grocery order from Superstore. It saves time and the saves the hassle of fighting through crowded aisles and waiting in long checkout lines. I love it!
Time is money. Works for the affluent, the top 10% or very expensive (marked up) groceries. That is why most online grocery stores have failed. You bring your own labour to the store and spend 1/2 h picking goods while walking the aisles. With grocery margins at 2-3% this margin would be much reduced if you had to pay someone for your 1/2 h to pick your goods. There is no free lunch (pun intended).
As people age and the elderly form a greater proportion of society the delivery of weekly groceries is more a social service, than a luxury.
This service is generally provided by relatives or volunteers.
This is clearly another niche eminently suited to Uber and Lyft.
Human settlement on the west coast dates back to the last ice age some 10,000 years ago, perhaps even deeper into the past. Through that long history folks lived freely off the bounty of land and sea without 30 year mortgages, or landlords, grocery stores, superstores, automobiles, without careers and retirement plans. Propelled by hand paddles in canoes made with Iron Age tools these humans moved with the seasons as did all the other creatures through this long enduring period of harmony with nature, they did so on the west coast right up until a few hundred years ago, until the invasion of the cyborgs, the humans with heavy dependencies on machines of every kind imaginable. What a disaster, a continuing disaster for every living thing.
Our ancestors particularly enjoyed dentistry and brain surgery when it was simple and only Iron Age tools were needed. Sigh.
And died frequently at age 30 and many women at child birth ! More suffered innumerably with tooth aches or other diseases easily cured today with penicillin or other modern medicines.
Oh, the good old days !
Let’s roll back the clock, shall we ?
We cannot go backward in time but we ought to at least understand what we have given up going forward.
Disease characteristics of modern civilisation include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, anxiety, chronic respiratory disease, liver disease to name a few, all the result of a lack of physical activity (send me 10 pounds of sugar, and a case of soda pop by Uber), an unnatural diet, or unclean air (that Uber vehicle driving me to the dentist on account of the soda pop and my resulting obesity) or un met mental health issues. These are all cyborg diseases of the so called modern era.
Gee, why do folks live to 100 then today. Last time I checked the air in Canada is pretty clean.
100 is the new 60: http://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/body-sensors-uber-care-and-prescription-apps-this-is-how-medical-technology-is-going-to-make-100-the-new-60
Gordon Price will blog here for a long long time most likely …
The people that are living to 100 are the ones who were raised on whole food diets with no additives and preservatives, and incorporated movement into their everyday lives and maintain that lifestyle today. The processed food generation a few decades later, which continues today is screwed.
The quote by Howard Schitz is a real piece – that Tarbucks will be rebranded as a destination in a mall. A destination. In a mall. That’s precious.
I had my first Tarbucks coffee in Chicago 23 years ago. The last time was at least 15 years ago. Which helps explain how we got into a SFH in 2005. Blows my mind to see people lining up to give Schitz money.
I saw a video of someone bemoaning the fact that she’d never be able to afford the city she grew up in – to take her kids to her favourite restaurants. Here’s a list of my favourite restaurants. …
Jim Treliving said that only 15% of Mexicans could afford to eat out – to explain why Boston Pizza didn’t proliferate there. Many here who patronize this high margin chain can’t afford it either; but they go. Here’s the number of times I’ve wasted money at a BP – zero.
Re. disruptive technologies of using car share to deliver – it’s logical, but minuscule compared to moving bodies around. Public transit is the cash-sucking behemoth that will be hit hard. I particularly like how one Chinese car share company matches clients who are looking for potential business partners, relationships, or common interests. When was the last time you had a chat with someone on a bus. I loathe public transit.
Genius poet Christopher Dewdney wrote about the self-armouring people do when they’re on a bus. This was before the days of iPhones. If I find it I’ll post.
The problem with the “innovation” of adding tech enabled delivery of groceries is the ease of duplication – like air miles, or two for one pizza. It adds a cost of entry.
I have had some of the worst times of my life at Stuporstore – it’s the closest box to our house – but, lately, it hasn’t been that bad. With the local billionaires fighting it out and giant German Aldi preparing to penetrate the N.A. market, they are forced to improve. Stuporstore used to be hell.
I remember when Superstore was the innovative European style supermarket that was a new refreshing improvement over the old tired Safeway.
Starbucks did open a high end destination Roastery and Tasting Room about a year ago in Seattle:
http://www.businessinsider.com/tour-starbucks-reserve-roastery-2014-12
I suppose this is a reversal of the trend to encourage turnover of seats at coffee houses, where students, etc. used to stay for long periods using the Wi-Fi.
I suspect that many Starbucks’ mall locations are near mall entrances – with easy access – so you can still stare out of the windows to the parking lot and the customers coming and going (i.e. like the passing crowd on a sidewalk).
The coffee shop is now the meeting place for millions. There’s nothing new in this. It’s written that by 1700 there were perhaps 2,000 coffee houses in London, where primarily men, transacted business, discussed politics, and shared literary works in progress.
Any casual observer can see that the coffee shops of north America today are places where people meet for the first time, where they meet for job interviews, real-estate planning and all the other things we know of these days, like ding e-mail and tea., on-line.