Consumers are going online more often to buy all sorts of products and services and grocery is no exception. While still a small percentage of overall sales, home delivery and/or pickup services are growing in popularity.
According to a report by The Providence Journal, Peapod has seen its sales rise by 20 percent in the past year. A company spokesperson, Peg Merzbacher, told the paper that the company is currently serving roughly 270,000 customers and the number continues going up.
Munroe Dairy in East Providence, Rhode Island, while much smaller than Peapod, is also seeing its home delivery sales trending upward. According to The Providence Journal, the company has seen the number of accounts it delivers dairy products to increase by 1,000 in the past year. That number is fairly impressive when considering Munroe Dairy's current customer account total is 12,000.
Discussion Questions: Is online grocery shopping with either home delivery or store pickup getting close to some sort of tipping point where many more consumers will begin to use such services? Have grocers learned how to make money offering online shopping programs?