Drive thru groceries would be awesome! @orenwolf mentioned that this service exists in some chain in Canada already. Jealous! Hopefully the idea will catch on down here.
Absolutely! Or, just grow your own. I am grateful for my local FM due to the fact that my cantaloupes developed some sort of rot this year. Saved the day the market did!
I think a place like WF has pretty healthy margins on lots of their food, so they might just be taking a small hit on profit for good press. These cuts look like loss-leaders to get new shoppers in the door who might not notice that while they got a great deal on salmon, each onion was twice the cost of their usual store (just a hypothetical example).
Also, “traditional” super-markets have legacy costs like retirement funds for their unionized employees that up-market stores like WF and TJ’s don’t. That might make a bit more room in the margins for WF.
Sears Fine Art … as promoted by Vincent Price:
I would not mind being able to swoop by and pick up some groceries that i’ve picked out ahead of time. My issue is that i’ve done that before using different services and i find picking groceries online a frustrating experience, it’s less time consuming being at the physical store to check out the selection of brands, product sizes, etc. Doing that online takes much much longer and feels more obtuse.
That was nearly 100 years on from their “mistake” as another user had put it.
Maybe the milennials will kill the obtuseness?
Interested to see what happens in this regard, especially since a WFM makes a big deal out of offering locally sourced produce, meat, etc. A friend of mine ran an organic farm that supplied WFM here in the SF Bay area, and one of the things I learned from him is that it’s extremely difficult for small farmers to make any money at all. Hopefully the price drops are absorbed by WFM and they don’t stick it to the little guy growers and producers and make their lives even more difficult.
Well, on the one hand [many reasons this is problematic].
But, on the other [many reasons this is a good thing].
In the end, look, I like low prices on food that I perceive as being healthier even though there’s no evidence that it is healthier. Also, they have good cake.
Maybe? I just can’t imagine a way to shop online for groceries that would be faster than just going to the store and looking at everything they have to offer. However if it were possible i would much rather do that and save myself the time. It only really works if you shop for specific brands or if the service severely limits the variety of products/brands you can shop for.
The only farmer’s market in my area is sporadic and mostly trades in jams, jellies, and seafood. I’m no huge fan of WF, but they’re a very good source of good quality produce for city folk without yards or access to farmer’s markets.
Nearest WFM to me is 35 minutes on a good day.
If it saves me 70 minutes (plus gas, plus the opportunity costs)…
And a spectacular deal for fisherman, who around my part of the country pay on the order of a hundred bucks a pound or more*.
*may include cost of booze.
Nearest one is about the same distance (time-wise) from me, if i absolutely had to buy my groceries there i would still be inclined to go. Again i’ve done grocery shopping online in the past and i’ve never liked it, but if Amazon can come up with a compelling solution to that i would definitely try it out.
I’m not so sure. It’s all about how log Amazon can afford to take the loss. If they do it long enough, they stand to take our a decent percentage of their competition.
Are they taking a loss? Lowering prices to market levels doesn’t usually put people in the red. Just not as much in the Black. Less gain is only a loss if that income is guaranteed in the first place (or if the speaker has an MBA and a point to make) - and it isn’t so.
This is what we’re afraid of. Our favorite local grocery store (a local chain that recently sold to a Japanese holding company) is less than a block from WF. If WF can undercut the store long enough for the distant accountants to notice the drop in business, the local store will be toast.
Remember that Walmart is a thing and they are pretty relentless about keeping prices low. There are other businesses that are just as competitive in this space. Amazon isn’t that much different, if they wanted to sell food at a loss to gain market share then that’s their prerogative but it’s not only not sustainable, i doubt they would go that hard and all out. It sets an expectation with customers for crazy low prices and food growers and manufacturers will get paid less. There’s not a lot of incentive there.
Amazon is more likely to gain market share through other means, i imagine by banking on customer loyalty and offering an improved shopping experience or service.
I used to use Peapod in Chicago. So. Much. Faster. Most of grocery store shopping isn’t browsing; it’s replenishing. We’d go to the site and reorder what we were low on. We’d skip impulse buys of particularly unhealthy stuff. And we’d schedule delivery for a convenient time. I so miss it.
I try to avoid impulse buys, as a rule i try not to buy snacks, pre-made canned/frozen food, etc. But my draw for going to the store is to look at the selection and figure out, other than what i usually buy, what food i can try out or if there’s any other recipes i want to try, if there’s any other brands that might be better than what i’m already buying, etc. I find that being at the store is more convenient for this, but if i already knew that i was going to be restocking on the same exact products as i usually do then buying it online would be easy as you point out 
That strategy may work on local grocers and small chains, which sucks for them. But it won’t work on the national chains or the large regional chains that are where most people shop. Also, commodities like groceries are pretty easy to show dumping and anti-competitive behavior. The wholesale price of oranges isn’t a secret and if WF sells them below market price it is going to be obvious.
