November 6, 2014
Overstock.com brings the farmers market online
The online grocery market has a new player and its Overstock.com. Yesterday, the off-price e-tailer announced the launch of Farmers Market on its site.
The idea for the project came to Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne about a year ago, he told RetailWire. The site, he said, "isn’t anything like" AmazonFresh, FreshDirect, etc. because of its focus on providing a means for farmers, community-supported agriculture (CSA) and co-ops to sell directly to consumers on a local basis.
Right now, Overstock estimates that it reaches about 20 percent of the U.S. population with the new service. It is looking to up that 70 percent by the end of the year.
Each product featured in Overstock’s Farmers Market comes with a biography of the farmer or specialty food supplier behind it. The site provides information on the production process to connect consumers more directly with suppliers.
"Pricing is going to be competitive, but it’s not going to be discount pricing," Mr. Byrne said. "It’s all about focusing on quality, organics and local products where the farmer maintains the majority of the revenue."
Farmers and others interested in joining the program do not incur up-front costs to join. Overstock is using a revenue-sharing model to make the program work.
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Do you agree with Patrick Byrne that Overstock.com’s Farmers Market is unique to online grocery services available in the market today? How do you expect the rest of the market to react to Overstock’s venture?
Poll
Overstock seems to be running in a number of different directions these days. Their brand message is, and has always been, low prices. Suddenly they want to introduce upscale and up-priced groceries. It doesn’t fit.
The idea of offering more information about growers is interesting, but it can easily be duplicated by competitors. I don’t see a competitive advantage here.
I don’t know. Aside from the local connection, which is only available in one area now and a few other states “coming soon,” I confess that they seem like they are competing with Harry & David more than Amazon Fresh. Shipping produce is a heck of a lot more profitable when you’re charging $50 for seven pounds of apples. Seems like there’s a lot of margin in that. It also seems a tad odd to me, given Overstock’s general strategy of discount prices on otherwise expensive products. The food side of the house seems like it’s much more premium price than the rest of the business.
All in all, seems like a lot of “meh” to me.
What a strange move. I agree with Max’s view that this attempt at upscale food doesn’t fit at all with their brand.
Having spent a few minutes on the site, it looks like it’s a very limited assortment of generally gift-oriented products—though gifting hasn’t explicitly been mentioned as their intent.
I think it will be an uphill battle.
Overstock may be known for discounting, but there is more to the company than that. Consider the following from their press release to announce the Farmers Market venture: “The Farmers Market is the latest initiative in Overstock’s collection of sustainable businesses that provides a way to give back to communities worldwide. Other community-focused initiatives include Worldstock.com, Overstock’s fair trade division selling products handmade by artisans all over the world, Main Street Revolution, which features products made in America by individuals and small businesses, and the company’s on-site Pet Adoption feature, which allows animal shelters across the country the chance to use Overstock’s shopping site as a free service to connect consumers to adoptable pets.”
To answer the question, yes, the Farmers Market is unique in the online grocery category. However, it is also perplexing and at first blush seems a bit odd.
If Overstock’s goal is to get consumers to go online to order their vegetables and local produce, it would appear to be a very, very difficult assumption that people will alter their purchasing behaviors so drastically.
There’s just something about going to Overstock for my local and organically-grown spinach and peppers that doesn’t make sense. There’s too much of a disconnect between one’s perception of a farmers market and Overstock.
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Overstock seems to be running in a number of different directions these days. Their brand message is, and has always been, low prices. Suddenly they want to introduce upscale and up-priced groceries. It doesn’t fit.
The idea of offering more information about growers is interesting, but it can easily be duplicated by competitors. I don’t see a competitive advantage here.
I don’t know. Aside from the local connection, which is only available in one area now and a few other states “coming soon,” I confess that they seem like they are competing with Harry & David more than Amazon Fresh. Shipping produce is a heck of a lot more profitable when you’re charging $50 for seven pounds of apples. Seems like there’s a lot of margin in that. It also seems a tad odd to me, given Overstock’s general strategy of discount prices on otherwise expensive products. The food side of the house seems like it’s much more premium price than the rest of the business.
All in all, seems like a lot of “meh” to me.
What a strange move. I agree with Max’s view that this attempt at upscale food doesn’t fit at all with their brand.
Having spent a few minutes on the site, it looks like it’s a very limited assortment of generally gift-oriented products—though gifting hasn’t explicitly been mentioned as their intent.
I think it will be an uphill battle.
Overstock may be known for discounting, but there is more to the company than that. Consider the following from their press release to announce the Farmers Market venture: “The Farmers Market is the latest initiative in Overstock’s collection of sustainable businesses that provides a way to give back to communities worldwide. Other community-focused initiatives include Worldstock.com, Overstock’s fair trade division selling products handmade by artisans all over the world, Main Street Revolution, which features products made in America by individuals and small businesses, and the company’s on-site Pet Adoption feature, which allows animal shelters across the country the chance to use Overstock’s shopping site as a free service to connect consumers to adoptable pets.”
To answer the question, yes, the Farmers Market is unique in the online grocery category. However, it is also perplexing and at first blush seems a bit odd.
If Overstock’s goal is to get consumers to go online to order their vegetables and local produce, it would appear to be a very, very difficult assumption that people will alter their purchasing behaviors so drastically.
There’s just something about going to Overstock for my local and organically-grown spinach and peppers that doesn’t make sense. There’s too much of a disconnect between one’s perception of a farmers market and Overstock.