Online grocery shopping doesn't appeal to everyone. There are many people for whom grocery shopping is a fun and interesting experience. But there are also people that cringe at the thought of heading out to a supermarket or strolling through an open air product in search of taste experiences.
That type of consumer may be close to reaching the ultimate dream of emancipation from physical grocery shopping. For one thing, Walmart is experimenting with online shopping and pickup at 5 North Carolina stores.
Image source: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Walmart’s free service launched last week. Walmart shoppers at designated locations can order groceries online and then pick them up at the store without leaving their cars. 30,000 items will be available through this pickup service at no additional cost. The procedure is simple:
  • Perform your grocery shopping at the Walmart.com online site or via the Walmart Grocery mobile app. You enter a zip code to designate a store and a time to indicate when you want to pick up your order.
  • A friendly Walmart associate will fill a shopping cart with the items in your order, carefully selecting the choicest meats and freshest produce.
  • At the appointed time, you drive to a designated parking space and call the store’s special phone number to announce your arrival. An associate will quickly bring the order to your car and load it in. You then drive home, hopefully in time to avoid the ice cream from melting.
But even more breathtaking is a Swedish service that delivers food directly to your kitchen and fridge, even if you’re not home. It’s hard to imagine that this Scandinavian breakthrough won’t one day be gracing our own shores and providing more delicious couch-potato time to exhausted American consumers.
Image source: PostNord AB
The Swedes have pushed shopping time and effort savings to new heights. Stockholm’s supermarket chain ICA AB and courier company PostNord AB have joined forces in a testinvolving 20 households in the nation’s capital city.
After you perform your online shopping, a delivery person will bring the groceries to your front door, remove her shoes, enter your home and unpack your deliveries. A new, customer installed add-on lock made by Glue AB, a Swedish startup, enables this service even when no one is home.
The delivery person will be able to unlock the door with a smartphone app. Residents can decide remotely whether to give the messengers permission to enter. Interviewed test subjects are expressing confidence that the new service will be safe and secure, although they may not want to leave expensive items lying around.
By facilitating deliveries to an empty home, logistics companies can plan their deliveries in a way that minimizes costs and eliminates failed deliveries.
According to eMarketer, a digital marketing research company, 8.6 percent of worldwide total retail sales, worth $2 trillion, will arise from online commerce this year, which is 23 percent higher than in 2015.
During the trial period, the Swedish delivery service will be free, but eventually the company backers expect to pass the costs to consumers.
The Glue smart lock sells for $277, fits over the existing door lock and permits access via a smartphone. August Home, an American company, is currently testing a system of single-time-use digital access codes for your front door.