Grocery Delivery in 2018: Does It Finally Work?

[Julio Franco]

When historians look back at the 2010s, I suspect two tech trends will be readily apparent: the rise in popularity of the subscription-based model and the emergence of the gig economy. What may not be immediately evident is that these two movements helped solve a dilemma that has perplexed some of the world's brightest minds for decades.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1726-grocery-delivery-service-convenience/

 

[Squid Surprise]

So this article is basically an advertisement for Shipt? Thought it was going to be an "opinion" piece.

There have been grocery delivery options for years - long before 2014's Shipt... in fact, many supermarkets have a home delivery program built right in - I know the Loblaws in my area will home deliver for a nominal fee.

Was the author of this article paid by Shipt?

 

[Ravey]

Despite it being an advert for Shipt it's still a decent article. Although I didn't finish reading it - Adverts shouldn't be this long.

I love What online grocery shopping does for society. especially for the Elderly, People with mobility difficulties and parents with limited time (like me).

There are also hidden advantages to using a delivery/click-to-collect service over buying in store.. Substitutions! - Yes it might be a little irksome when your peeled tinned tomatoes suddenly become chopped tinned tomatoes but on the plus side you still get charged the less value of the put in your delivery.

So for example.. I ordered a bag of (I think 24) Pampers nappies - The store didn't have those, or an equivalent.. So I ended up with the larger 56 nappy bag! all for the price of the 24 bag.. it was a decent surprise bargain.

So to summarize - Pro Online shopping - Against Sneaky advertising. ;P

Oh! just add a little thing.. It's not that I don't like advertising We want you to get paid for your hard work.. but maybe make it more obvious if it is an advert? like an ADVERT filter?

 

[tipstir]

Wait advert, not a review? I can add my cents here to get hired for them you best think like the customer first.

 

[Julio Franco]

So this article is basically an advertisement for Shipt? Thought it was going to be an "opinion" piece.

Was the author of this article paid by Shipt?

This is not an advertisement, it's a regular article with impressions about shopping with a specific company that serves the area of one of our writers. It's a bit on the opinion/impressions side, too, since it's more of a lifestyle/culture piece.

If this was an ad we'd clearly show a label on top of the text indicating so, but in this case it's not. We're obligated to label ads as ads legally and ethically.

With that said, it does worry me that you (and a few others) thought this was ad?
Perhaps we used too many photos with people wearing Shipt t-shirts (removed a couple just now)... any others?

We don't want to mislead the reader and I think Shawn has done a good job explaining what worked for him as a customer and putting that in context.

 

[Jamlad]

How is this new, news, or relevant? It read like an ad/endorsement but was way too long to be one.

I know the British supermarket chain Tesco have been doing home deliveries since mid-2000s. Surely the American chains have also been doing it for a similarly long time?

 

[Squid Surprise]

This is not an advertisement, it's a regular article with impressions about shopping with a specific company that serves the area of one of our writers. It's a bit on the opinion/impressions side, too, since it's more of a lifestyle/culture piece.

If this was an ad we'd clearly show a label on top of the text indicating so, but in this case it's not. We're obligated to label ads as ads legally and ethically.

With that said, it does worry me that you (and a few others) thought this was ad?
Perhaps we used too many photos with people wearing Shipt t-shirts (removed a couple just now)... any others?

We don't want to mislead the reader and I think Shawn has done a good job explaining what worked for him as a customer and putting that in context.

I’m glad to see a response. The first part of the article is quite good - but the rest simply details Shipt and the author’s experience with it. To make this a “real” article and not an ad, I would expect to see other companies mentioned, and perhaps a rationale of why Shipt is superior to them (if it is).
The title does not mention Shipt at all - which leads the reader to assume it will be a general article on grocery shipping companies. If the title of the article was “Why Shipt is thriving” or something similar, I wouldn’t be complaining.

 

[Julio Franco]

I’m glad to see a response. The first part of the article is quite good - but the rest simply details Shipt and the author’s experience with it. To make this a “real” article and not an ad, I would expect to see other companies mentioned, and perhaps a rationale of why Shipt is superior to them (if it is).

Gotcha. Thanks for the feedback... believe me if this article somehow read or looked like an ad that was completely unintentional since that's not the case at all. As a few other tech culture features we've run in the past, this spun off from a writer's personal experience.

Now, I should say we did mention Shipt in the header (secondary title) and competitors were mentioned in the intro, but as pointed out by Shawn, none of those are available on his area, and perhaps the reason this is not new to many readers who live in metropolitan areas that were served first by these services, but not in the case of the author's experience.

We don't want to confuse readers (perhaps they're simply more used to see PC hardware features from us) and we stand by the content but I've added a short editor's note in the text to make it clear this is not an ad or an endorsed feature.

 

[MikeOD]

Does it work?
Hmmm.
No. Unless you like defrosted frozen stuff, then it works.

 

[seefizzle]

Does it work?
Hmmm.
No. Unless you like defrosted frozen stuff, then it works.

Why would it be any more defrosted than if you had put it in your trunk and drove it home? You're making up a problem that isn't real.

 

[GeforcerFX]

I think Walmart is going to win the deliverable grocery game. You have two convenience choices from them, they pick and grab all your stuff and it's waiting for you to swing by whenever you want to (cuts the time down severely compared to shopping in store) or they can deliver straight form the store. Walmart already has massive distribution (they are everywhere)and can keep growing at a rate no other retailer can match. They also serve marketplaces that amazon just never will due to cost and competition (aka Walmart is already there)

 

[BobHome]

I like this concept and expect it to take off, but my concern reading this is: How well screened are the delivery people?
Maybe they should be bonded like other service people: electricians, plumbers?
We wouldn't want them to use this service to prey on, steal from the elderly.

 

[Axle Grease]

My mother can't/won't learn to use a PC so every fortnight she reads out the grocery items, one by one, over the phone while I select them. At the end of it I go to the online checkout, select the closest available time slot for delivery the following day and then pay for the items with my credit card. ( Don't worry. She refunds the money into my bank account the day after.) That's the way I've been doing it since 2007 with the Countdown retailer, here in New Zealand. The state of the perishables has always been good, so whatever method they use they seem to have got it right from the beginning.