Personal grocery shopping is on the rise in the United States. Whether people just don’t have time to shop for themselves or simply don’t know what they should be buying, there is a growing market for the service. There are some untapped markets for personal buyers, from the vacation rental/condo business and the healthy/organic industry. In addition to vacation rentals and organic food, there is now a newer form of grocery delivery, which is ordering online to have it delivered to your doorstep. These are three very different cases where there is a need, but they are similar in that people will be willing to pay a lot of money for all three services.
In the vacation rental/condo business, the need stems from the fact that when people come on vacation, the last thing they want to spend their time on is shopping for food and drinks. This is where people will pay big bucks, especially since they’re already in the mood to spend, to have the food they ordered delivered to their doorstep without lifting a finger. In the Destin area alone, there have been many small businesses capitalizing on this opportunity, and once word gets out they inevitably become very successful with vacationers and long-term renters alike.
This leads to another aspect of personal grocery shopping, where people are also willing to shell out a large sum of money to have their produce delivered to their doorstep, and that is in the natural/organic food market. Many people find it difficult or even nearly impossible to find fresh, healthy organic food, especially in larger metropolitan areas, and over the last decade, many people have gravitated toward an organic preference. This need has caused an increase in the food delivery business because people no longer have to search for the food themselves and can pay someone good money to find it for them. Since organic fruits and vegetables are already expensive compared to other non-organic foods, customers are already conditioned to pay a premium for the product, so paying a little more to have someone buy it from you is usually not a big deal .
The newest method of food delivery is in the form of robots that deliver the products to your doorstep. Amazon has capitalized on this idea with its new Amazon Fresh service. Now you can buy any food, fresh or frozen, and it will be delivered to your door very quickly. According to Amazon’s site, the service is only available in certain locations in the US, but they plan to expand rapidly so that people everywhere can experience the ease of shopping for groceries online. This is a service that even 5 years ago would seem like mission impossible, but as technology and demand increase, anything can be done in business.
So to wrap things up, personal grocery shoppers and grocery delivery will see a surge in the next decade. The question is, is it here to stay or is it just another trend that will come and go? It’s hard to determine what’s a trend and what’s going to stick around these days, as the average consumer’s attention span seems to be getting shorter and shorter and people are also getting lazier. No doubt the idea is well thought out, but it really relies on wealthier or health-conscious people who would rather have their products on their doorstep than go and get them themselves.