Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is an excerpt of a current article from Convenience Store Decisions magazine.
The milkman is making his rounds in Mountain Top, Pa. Good2Go is enhancing its convenience offering by providing residents the option of having fresh, all-natural and organic products delivered directly to their front doors.
When partners Awais Ahmad, V.J. George and Thomas Job opened the store in September 2008, they had no idea how popular their fresh, glass-bottled milk from Hillside Dairy would become with consumers.
"We started using their milk in our store and it was a big success, so that's where the idea kind of sprung up about doing a home delivery." said V.J. George, senior partner and president.
The delivery service is a first for the area and began at the end of May in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, "where we feel the market will demand this home delivery," Mr. George said. Customers seem happy to pay the $3 delivery fee. The company's fleet of 10 trucks makes the weekday deliveries.
The delivery service is allowing the store to expand its customer reach without having to open additional stores. Once the delivery service gets underway, the partners plan to consider extending it to more routes in various nearby counties.
"Already we have 150 people signed up, and every day more and more customers are inquiring or signing up at the stores," Mr. George said.
As evident by the number of people who have requested the service already, consumer feedback has been very strong.
"Today, if you look at the lifestyle of a family both the husband and wife are working, so it is very difficult to (find time to) get the right products, and not all stores have organic products, so that is the convenience proposition we are providing," Mr. George said.
In addition to milk, the service also offers organic ice cream, butter and cheese, organic beef from grass-fed cattle, free-range organic chicken and fresh baked bread from local bakeries. As time goes on, the company may also begin offering regular products alongside the organic and all-natural options.
"We feel it will be a successful venture and hope to double our business to at least 300 customers by the end of this year," Mr. George said. Three hundred may be a modest number considering the popularity the delivery option is currently generating. But, Mr. George noted that as they gain new requests, he also estimated about two percent of the original customers will cancel the service during the same period.
Discussion Question: How would you rate the opportunity in home delivery for convenience stores? What are the inherent challenges in making such as service work?