Grocery site is a little bit Costco and a little bit Whole Foods
What would happen if Costco and Whole Foods got together and produced a child that happened to be an e-commerce site? The result might look something like ThriveMarket.com, according to an article on the WTOP website.
Thrive charges an annual membership fee of $59.95 and, in return, promises to sell organic and natural food items (all shelf stable) at prices 25 percent to 50 percent below traditional retail. The site intentionally limits its selection — more Costco than Whole Foods — curating top products from leading natural brands.
"Right now we have around 4,000 products and that’s intentional. We really try to provide the best in class, highest quality product options in each category and then not a lot of other noise," Jeramiah McElwee, vice president of purchasing and merchandising at Thrive Market, told WTOP.
Initial registration is free, as is delivery on orders of $49 or more. In a site check conducted by RetailWire last night, Thrive offered an additional 25 percent and two free Clif Kid ZBar gifts on top of its standard 15 percent discount on first purchases. First-time shoppers also receive a free 30-day trial membership with their initial order. The company donates an annual membership to a low income family with every paid subscription.
![[Image: Thrive Market CEO]](/public/images/discussions/18475/thrive-ceo-still.jpg)
According to the site’s FAQ page, the company was founded by "a team of serial social entrepreneurs, technologists, and natural products industry veterans brought together by two shared realizations: (1) that living healthy in America is too hard for too many people, and (2) that it shouldn’t be that way. Before Thrive ever launched, we spent more than a year developing the right business model, enrolling hundreds of brand and charity partners, and bringing an incredible group of health experts, entrepreneurs, and advisors together to tackle the ambitious goal of making healthy living truly accessible to every American."
Discussion Questions
Do you see the potential for Thrive to be a disruptive force in the natural and organics market? What do you see as the challenges and opportunities ahead for the site?
Poll
BrainTrust
I don’t see Thrive becoming a disruptive force in the natural and organics market. Rather I see it joining Webvan and other retailers that were going to disrupt grocery in the dead pool. It’s a good concept, but it’s too late. Too many retailers are offering organic food. Aldi just announced that they will increase space for organics. Amazon, the king of e-commerce, offers organics and delivery. Thrive offers nothing new. It’s not disruptive, just a “me-too.”
While it is difficult to know what the economics are, it’s a pretty cool concept. It might not take a huge number of members to make this successful. With lots of consumers complaining about Whole Foods’s prices, there could be a niche here to exploit. They are also getting lots of PR and endorsements. It is very different than other online grocery services, as it focuses on providing natural, organic and special diet products at affordable prices. I give them an A for effort—now we just have to wait and see how good their business plan turns out to be.
Grocery-Food is the least penetrated retail segment online. I’m of the belief that the market has not matured yet, in fact its embryonic.
Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry are two strategies that Amazon is using to overcome one of its largest pain points—namely, 3rd party sellers that sell short dated items in the grocery category. Also packaging changes, new formulas and new ingredients allow the older items that are on the secondary market to be flipped on Amazon at high margins.
Another example: items that are returned by large grocers because they experienced temperatures over 90 degrees in route, show up on Amazon. Everybody is unwitting, even Amazon.
Food connoisseurs won’t buy food on Amazon for these reasons. Too many previous poor purchasing experiences.
Secondly, while it seems trivial, it also is about data. The product data is just not present on Amazon. ( and data hygiene for the entire food category is poor all across the internet)
Data…= huge driver of online food sales
Gluten Free, Fat Content, Sodium, Allergic reactions, Fair Trade, Country of Origin, Shelf Life, etc…..