The Best and Worst of Online Grocery Shopping - And What About PorchBoxDrop?
FACT - The US Food Marketing Institute reports that in 2017 43% of millennials (young people) shopped online for groceries at least occasionally. This is a 50% increase over a year ago. The convenience of online grocery shopping is proving to be a hit with time-pressed consumers.
Clearly, there are reasons for considering online grocery ordering and delivery such as:
- Injured/Disabled/Elderly Can Stay Safe at Home (You can order for your parents.)
- Great for Meal Planning, Budgeting and Calorie Counting
- Reduced Impulse Spending
- Mothers can order online and take a two hour delivery while doing other tasks and without having to take children shopping
- You avoid parking, wobbly carts, kids in the aisle, people that are rude, lines at the register and those horrible self-serve checkouts
Then, you have to wait for the delivery, which you are charged a service fee or along with an obligation to tip. So, the cost for a PorchBoxDrop, we agree, is not low... maybe not even affordable for many. However, studies prove that grocery delivery saves an incredible amount of time that few of us have enough of. Grocery delivery services bring quality and many other benefits.
The Reasons to Consider a PorchBoxDrop
A Delaware consumer group investigated the costs and found that a family of four could easily spend over $1,000 dollars a year on delivery costs. While those costs are greatly minimized by the built-in savings achieved, here's a graphic of their findings, by store:
So, the issue becomes complicated - but clear - if theft, spoilage or melting occurs your costs go up. But, more to the point, if you are planning to order and have delivery to your home after a workday, in the early afternoon or evening, you may have to wait for days because those are the delivery times that book and fill up the quickest. For example on a Friday or Saturday and for major public holidays like Christmas or New Year, delivery slots can get booked up several months in advance. In addition, you normally have to schedule to be at home to receive the groceries and that also cuts into your day.
Our solution was based on the premise that if you could order anytime and have your groceries delivered anytime, 1. you wouldn't have to schedule to be there when the delivery occurs, and; 2. you could order at other than peak times, ostensibly whenever you desire and your PorchBoxDrop would be there to cover for you; 3. Finally, some delivery services charge more for peak hour delivery vs off-peak, and afternoon and evening holiday and weekend deliveries can be over-booked and that costs more which would be unnecessary if your groceries could be delivered at 'any time'. Ultimately, for a few hundred dollars for a PorchBoxDrop grocery delivery, complexities become the only thing that melts away.