"You need physical stores": Sort of. We need physical warehouses. The core of the Ernie's business model is that these locations will be much cheaper to operate than the traditional grocery storefront, therefore increasing net margins. They will take expertise to operate; luckily, this expertise is well-established and readily available.
"Your stores are going to have to be as big as a supermarket": Not necessarily. Our SKU count will have to be big enough to be compelling. But Trader Joe's has proven that a very low SKU count can still be compelling if the value proposition is there. Trader Joe's value prop is low prices. Ernie's is convenience. On top of that, we're cramming our SKUs into a warehouse layout. Our real estate footprint will be much, much smaller than a supermarket.
"What's the advantage over just ordering my goods online... ?": The advantage is in the operations model. Home delivery will always be a much more expensive grocery offering. This results in some combination of fees and/or higher prices. Ernie's is not price premium offering. No fees. It's cheaper for us to sell the same can of beans to you than it is for Safeway. Much less than a home delivery offering.
"40 minutes in a grocery store? / 73 hours per year?": We'll just have to agree to disagree on these points. Those folks that hate wandering around the grocery (or have small children, or are physically challenged, or have better things to do with their time) are who we are marketing to. I, for one, look forward to getting 3 days of my life back every year. :)