Food Delivery Needs More Innovative Ideas to Grow

A big question in home delivery has been, when 

are groceries going to catch up with online books, 

clothes, and shoes? For a long time, the costs and 

logistics has kept the perishable food and beverage

 deliveries lagging other e-commerce efforts. 

Others have said, shoppers haven't gotten over 

the perceived hurdle that fresh groceries shouldn't be delivered. 

According to a recent Business Insider Intelligence report, only about 1% of all U.S. consumers do 

their grocery shopping online. 

Despite that, many start-ups have ignored the barriers, and have innovated their way onto shoppers 

tables -- By offering a service that brick and mortar is not. Companies like Plated, Blue Apron, and 

Sun Basket deliver all the pre-proportioned fresh ingredients for shoppers to cook chef-inspired meals

 in their kitchens. 

Perhaps these innovative offerings are part of the reason why online grocery sales are forecast to 

grow at a 21.1% compound annual growth rate between 2013 and 2018, to nearly $18 billion.  While 

traditional grocery sales are expected to grow only 3.1% annually during the same period based on

 the same report by Business Insider Intelligence. 

More competitive ideas in food delivery will accelerate food delivery growth. The question is: Will more 

traditional retail get in the food delivery game? And will shoppers see a time when food delivery is as 

normal as online shoe shopping?