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We’re now seeing the rapid growth of e-services start-ups such as Honestbee and Redmart. Could going to the supermarket soon be a thing of the past? But remember, these companies grapple with a different set of issues compared to that of an online clothing retailer!
We decided to try our hand at ordering from three such services - Honestbee, Redmart, and Cold Storage - to get a better idea of the online ordering experience. Here’s our verdict.
(Read our review of Honestbee and Redmart here.)
COLD STORAGE
(image: Cold Storage)
How it works: Cold Storage offers an online version of its physical store. Apart from a dedicated section for promotions such as weekly deals or bulk specials, the supermarket aisle categories make a return here. These were sub-divided into smaller categories. For instance, under under “Grocery”, there were headers for snacks, sweets and baking needs.
Process: The checkout process combines elements from both Honestbee and Redmart. You select the action you want the runner to take if your item is unavailable, and are prompted with an additional list of suggested items before checkout.
Delivery time is on a par with Redmart, with the earliest delivery slot available two days after. But instead of strict two-hour windows, Cold Storage’s delivery windows range from three to four hours.
Plus points:
IS IT A GAME CHANGER?
There’s a lot of talk about how online supermarkets are disrupting the grocery market, and we can absolutely see why. Online grocery shopping is exceedingly convenient, and the
three we covered here don’t even represent all of available options.
It also saves a lot of time thanks to virtual shopping lists, quick reordering features, and mobile-optimised sites and apps, which allow you to shop faster and order from just about anywhere with an Internet connection.
(image: Tesco)
For an idea of where this might go, consider Tesco in the UK. Its online business became so popular that the runners were disrupting the in-store experience of regular shoppers, and restocking the shelves was an hourly problem.
As a result, Tesco resorted to dark stores, which are essentially stores set up to serve only online runners. Unless you really enjoy picking out your food or are extremely wary of quality issues, we can’t see why you wouldn’t want to give one of these online stores a shot. Why bother trudging through the physical store when you can browse all the aisles with a click of your mouse?
This article was first published on the Home & Decor February 2016 issue.