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Comment by k-mcgrady | Hacker News Reader

This really confuses me. Why aren't the large supermarkets offering a delivery service in the US (at least last time I checked they weren't)? I can order groceries to be delivered the same of the next day from all the major supermarkets in the UK. I've done it for years and rarely had an issue.

Also, if any of the major supermarkets in the US step in and decide to offer this service won't Instacart's business be instantly obliterated?

Is there something I'm missing?

Edit: I guess someone accidentally down voted my perfectly valid question.

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They do, but their interface really blows and the scheduling system can be troublesome because they have a limited number of drivers and sometimes you'd have to schedule delivery during a bad time. I've only used instacart a few times, but I could immediately tell it was way better than Safeway's delivery mechanism.

For starters, I could have a single watermelon delivered at 11pm for a party I had going on, but with Safeway, I could not do same day delivery and it would need to be delivered during working hours the following day because the other times were already booked. Safeway's delivery mechanism is probably good enough for large offices that need regular deliveries, but Instacart is good for all other times. I probably would just stick with a single delivery service for everything so I wouldn't waste my time using Safeway's service.

Instacart feels very similar to Google Shopping Express, and if you haven't tried out either service, you should definitely try one of them out. Google Shopping Express can't deliver perishables, but they do support Costco, so if you don't have a car and you need 50 rolls of paper towel, that's the best place to be.

Interesting. I wonder if that's really enough. When it comes to groceries the vast majority of people shop based on price. Instacart charges a markup on every item purchased. In this market people seem to value price over convenience especially when the convenience difference is small.

I don't agree with that sentiment. I think your pattern detector is only taking in account on how grocery shopping is currently done. When you introduce something new into the system, it may not adhere to the same rules. There are many cases when convenience will trump price. Say you need to buy items from 10 different stores. I would rather use a service that goes to 10 different stores for me, than have myself drive to each store to hunt down each item.

When I use amazon prime, I'm very aware that the prices are sometimes more expensive than a generic brand, but I am willing to pay the small price difference for the 2-day shipping convenience. A study was released on amazon prime shoppers that showed prime customers are less affected by price. The convenience of getting something with 2-day shipping, but with a higher price trumped a cheaper item but longer delivery times. People don't always go for the lowest cost item.

>> "Say you need to buy items from 10 different stores. I would rather use a service that goes to 10 different stores for me, than have myself drive to each store to hunt down each item."

I guess it depends how you shop! :) Supermarkets are there to give you the lowest prices and eliminate the need to go to more than 1 store. But I understand where you're coming from. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it works out.

Hah, I wish that were true. Supermarkets exist to make money, so they can't stock items that have low demand. If you cook ethnic foods, you'll typically need to visit several stores to buy all the ingredients for your meal.

Judging from flog's reply to my comment it's a cultural thing. In the UK the main supermarkets all have sections for ethnic foods (as the number of polish immigrants has increased for example the supermarkets have added polish food sections). Things in the US market seem to work differently.

It probably has to do with traveling distances which vary greatly depending on the area. I don't want my frozen stuff to thaw while sitting around waiting for the next driver or during transit. I don't want my stuff squashed so vehicles need to be bigger to handle multiple loads, which also sort of implies inefficiency while traveling without a load.

I could see it working extremely well in big compact cities since they already have many delivery services. However, in the spread out areas it wouldn't work so well without many drivers which increases costs and the price of goods.

Also, most people want to inspect their fruit and veggies before they buy them. The interfaces could take input on the state but that would just slow things down IMO while a human would have to sort them. Unless there are systems out there for ripeness detection. I might buy something for tonight's dinner, in which I want something ready, or I might be preparing for a weekend dinner and want something that still needs time.

I believe all of these issues can be overcome, but I don't see how all that labor, vehicles, and tech could be a marginal cost. Well, I can see the tech cost approaching zero/order since all it needs is the existing catalog/POS system with a simple web interface. Most people I know either shop on their way home from work, a trip they are already paying for, or wait for the weekend to go as a group.

They are, at least in some markets. Where I live (Boston), two of the largest grocery stores (Stop&Shop, RocheBrothers) both have delivery services where you order online. And I know there exists grocery delivery in Chicago, Seattle, and other major cities as well.

At least among my friends, Instacart seems to be more popular for Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

We get delivery groceries from Stop & Shop (in NYC) and it's great - much cheaper than going to any of the stores around here. The website doesn't look too fancy, but functionally it's totally fine. I think Fairway and Freshdirect also serve the area, but Stop & Shop seemed the cheapest.

I've recently moved to SF from London. One of the first thing you'll notice is that the supermarkets are years behind London. They're far inbetween, light on some product groups, and lacking in services like quick delivery. I was surprised Tesco didn't hit it off here.

Good to hear the perspective of someone who's been in both markets.

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