Online shopping has been around since the start of the internet. Online grocery shopping has been has been hindered by the high cost of delivery beared by consumers. Recently, Countdown launched their online supermarket in New Zealand. This was preceded by overseas supermarkets such as Tesco, Walmart, even Amazon starting online shopping for groceries.
Nowadays, online grocery shopping offers many more benefits. However, there are still some limitations.
Benefits:
Countdown is virtually in everyone is home or workplace. Instead of going to the nearest supermarket, consumers can make their grocery purchases online. This makes it highly convenient for customers. Also, when customers are making a purchasing decision they can easily order online and get it delivered or pick up their shopping. From both a business and consumer view online supermarkets give consumers a high level of time utility, because consumers can shop whenever they want – not just when the stores are open. This increases customer value and therefore customer satisfaction.
This also means that a company has a place wherever their customers are. As part of the marketing mix, a company addresses Place. By having an online shopping presence, Countdown has expanded their place massively. For consumers they no longer need to locate a store to go to. This is important
Delivery to customers adds to customer value in the form of task utility. Task utility is defined as someone doing something you (Witiger, 2013). This is true with home delivery, as consumers no longer have to drive and load their groceries into their vehicles or public transport. Delivery allows consumers to save time and do other tasks instead of supermarket shopping.
Overall, online supermarkets offe...
... middle of paper ...
...
Start-ups
The biggest obstacle for successful online supermarket start-ups, is funding. Start-ups need a considerable amount of funding to purchase the warehouses and the delivery trucks
Start-up online supermarkets have the ability to target certain market segments within the whole market. A good example of this is myfivemeals, which has been recently founded by a University of Canterbury student (O'Connor, 2014). Myfivemeals offer home delivery of ingredients to make five recipe meals. In this case, Stefan Warnaar has decided to compete for student’s business. Their cost is $130 a week and each meal feeds 4 adults. This is reflective of the typical demographics of students, in particular income that a student has. While this is not directly an online supermarket, it in the industry of Food and food delivery and is a novel and inexpensive way to set up business.
The article discusses how Panera Bread had to rethink its service model seven years ago. Customers had to wait in line approximately eight minutes to place an order. Furthermore, ten percent of the time, the orders were incorrect. As a result, the company decided that online ordering was the solution to their problem. In 2012, the organization opened a Panera prototype in Braintree, Massachusetts to test the elements of “Panera 2.0”. “Panera 2.0” consisted of self-order kiosks, delivery, digital ordering and a new practice of bringing food to customers’ tables. Getting the right process took Panera Bread over six years. However, all the time spent and money invested paid off for the company. Panera is now recognized as one of the best-performing chains in the industry. In addition, a quarter of the company sales come from online ordering and customers waiting time to place an order reduced to one minute. In 2016, the company posted its best sales growth in four years, outperforming the industry average by 6.5% points.
RNRA Team, “Supermarkets, Fresh Produce and New Commodity Chains: What Future for the Small Producer?” Hot Topics: February, 2004.
The framework that will compare Publix Super Markets and its competitors is the Five Forces Model of Competition. The five aspects that will be discussed are the threat of new entrants into the market, the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat of substitute products and rivalry among competing firms. Striving for the optimal position in each of these categories has given Publix Super Markets the reputation it has pride towards earning. It is important to every compa...
UK’s exit from the European Union following the Referendum on 23rd June 2016 has exerted tremendous and profound impact on UK grocery industry. Many experts warn that devalued sterling will force the prices to go up and bring a tough time for the industry. However, Lidl, a German no-frills supermarket, has emerged to be the fastest growing supermarket with a 12.2 percent increase on sales from June to August (Denton, 2016). In the early 90’s, Lidl opened its first UK store. Insisting on providing qualified products with low prices, it has expanded rapidly in UK and owns more than 640 stores now. It also won the 2016 Good Housekeeping Awards as the Best Supermarket (Lidl, 2016). With no doubt, Brexit greatly changes the business
Place (channels of distribution), refers to the point of sale (POS). The method of which a product is assessable to the consumer is a crucial part in the distribution of goods. Retailers pay top dollar for prime real-estate, one of the most popular saying in business is “location, location, location”. Location is key in the retail market and Victoria’s Secret understands that very well, they offer a number of outlets for consumers to reach their products; they have a number of physical store locations both inside and outside of the mall and centrally located to consumers, including overseas and in a number of countries throughout the world, offer online shopping for the millennial and convenience shopping as well as via catalogue (mail order). There is great utilization in all outlets for distribution of the product line; Victoria’s Secret ensures high engagement of its consumers in all outlets by offering special sales and promotions significant to the specific outlet. By doing this they appeal to each market
Herrick, C. 2011. Woolworths revamps online strategy by upgrading supermarket app. Date of access: 02 Nov 2013
The STEEPLE analysis will be used as a tool to determine and identify the internal and external factors that may be affecting Countdowns' Greerton store. The STEEPLE (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, and Ethical) analysis is a method used by companies such as Countdown as a management strategy to better understand and identify positive and negative factors affecting their business, in the present and in the future. Two such STEEPLE issues that affect Countdown and influence there ten-year outlook are environment/ecological issues and brand, company, and technology image. They are important in ensuring a better environment for sustainable trading in a consumer market aware of their environment, branding, and pricing.
Challenges in Today's U.S. Supermarket Industry. 2014. Challenges in Today's U.S. Supermarket Industry. [ONLINE] Available at:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479076.aspx. [Accessed 31 March 2014].
There are many reasons for choosing to go into a store to purchase items needed. For instance, having someone assist you in finding what you need, or just answer questions about the product. It is also a way to get off the couch, away from the television, or off the computer. Another feature is you can see and examine what you are going to purchase. This helps in the decision making for most people. You know the minute the salesperson rings you up, the product is yours to take home and use right aw...
middle of paper ... ... Going online is an advantage for fast food chains in this highly competitive market. Through online services, international marketing objectives and goals can be achieved, with cost reduction.
The main advantage of online shopping is convenient. Online shops open 24/7. People who live in remote areas do not need to speed long time on the traveling to the stores. Consumers who come from other cities/countries can easily buy the native and specialty goods by just a click instead of going to that cities/countries themselves. The relevant information of products can be received from any location in seconds. Study showed that 72% of online shoppers preferred surf online than go to retail store to attain information about a product (Lokken et al., 2003). Online shopping also has greater price information (as cited...
No longer just a place to buy food, the supermarket has become a place to cash a check, buy a birthday card, or pick up some tulip bulbs. These new extras are all centered on the idea of convenience. We all hope to find a few extra moments in our days, so supermarkets offer us a way to save time. I'll be the first to admit that buying three things at the same store is nicer than driving across town. Saving time can definitely be a good thing.
Online shopping is most convenient for individuals that don’t have time to go to the store. If you’re busy with an online job or online classes then online shopping can sometimes be more convenient. It’s also convenient since you don’t have to drive, catch the bus, wait in a long line, or deal with not being able to find an item. All you have to do is type in the item you’re looking for and it’s there. Once you find the item, you can order it at anytime because online stores never close.
The Internet is rapidly becoming widespread and widely used as a tool for globalization across the world. As the Internet became more easily accessible by most people in the world, the web is bringing significant implications and changes to the way we live, including the way we shop. There is a rapid growth with e-commerce and moving businesses onto the web and retail success is no longer about stores and shopping centers. In developed countries, about two thirds of the population have access to the Internet making the option of online shopping is easily accessible to most people (Valerio). With the ease of shopping in your own home there are many benefits of doing your shopping online. Consumers can easily compare prices online, there is a larger range of products on the web, you can save time by having your shopping delivered right to your doorstep and it also overcomes physical barriers. Over the last decade online shopping has challenged and replaced the traditional means of physically going into shops as the digital world has provided customers with further convenience, flexibility and comfort from shopping from your own home.