Demand from e-grocery and meal kit sales will lead to development of 70 million-100 million sf of cold storage space over the next five years, up from 214 million square feet, according to a new report from commercial real estate firm CBRE. The 18-29 year old age group is the fastest growing in terms of e-grocery activity.
While retailers pursue same-day delivery, grocers often complete and ship orders in an hour, while restaurants get even less time. Merchants in food delivery thus have to make instant decisions about the legitimacy of a purchase or risk upsetting their customers. The trick is implementing fraud prevention without ruining the experience.
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Firing back at Amazon’s move less than three weeks ago, Walmart is now offering free next-day delivery to customers in Phoenix and Las Vegas, with plans to expand to Southern California within days and 75% of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Walmart’s deal is mostly free: There’s a $35 order value threshold to qualify.
Two months after dropping out of the Google Shopping Actions platform and the Google Express same-day delivery service after a year-long test, Walmart is adding Google’s voice ordering capability for online groceries as it continues to wage war with Amazon.
While Amazon dominates ecommerce overall, accounting for roughly half of all online consumer sales according to some estimates, it is not out in front in the grocery wars as competitors like Walmart and Target with more physical assets are winning in curbside pickup.
Kroger plans to build the second of 20 automated distribution centers in partnership with UK grocer Ocado for fulfilling ecommerce orders in Groveland, FL. The state-of-the-art FCs, built by Kroger and powered by Ocado’s automation technology, are just part of Kroger’s innovation push including driverless and same-day delivery.
The Feb. 5 fire that completely gutted an automated Ocado grocery fulfillment center in the UK was caused by a failure in an “ambient grid” storing food at room temperature, raising concerns about what happens in these types of facilities when disaster strikes, according to a Bloomberg report.
Walmart continues to see strong topline growth in ecommerce, with online revenue increasing 43% in the fourth quarter and 40% for the full year. But profit in the channel remains elusive and losses are expected to continue this year based on investments in infrastructure, people, online grocery and Store No. 8 initiatives, executives said.
Despite the big push behind e-grocery, including significant investments in technology and delivery by major retailers such as Target and Amazon and mainline grocers such as Kroger, Ahold Delhaize and Albertson’s, the demand isn’t quite there yet, according to a recent survey from Mercatus.