Google Launches Fresh-Grocery Deliveries
Google usually operates in high-margin industries. This is the opposite. I&#x27;ve had the &quot;privilege&quot; of working in this one. You&#x27;re talking all kinds of players working against each other for perceived self-gain with individual companies constantly pushing costs down to the point their staff can barely break even. And Google intends to compete with <i>that</i> using something with <i>higher</i> cost?<p>Pretty crazy. I was unsurprised they&#x27;d use Costco and Whole Foods while targeting two areas that already pay too much for stuff. Love to see them try that in my area where people go for whatever costs the least most of the time. Lots of true premium services have gone out of business with what&#x27;s left being those that approximate premium with right compromises to keep cost down. That&#x27;s probably true across most of the States.<p>The biggest flaw in all this is what these companies keep ignoring: impulse buying. The big stores put what you need as far away from you as possible. Then, you have to exert physical effort to get to good deals while seeing, at arms reach, all kinds of profitable items. This is a hard to quantify, but <i>big</i>, chunk of grocery revenues. So, these companies doing online deliveries or personal shoppers have to make more money than the competition while leaving out one of most powerful techniques for making money.<p>Always operating at a disadvantage, there. So, we&#x27;re not going to see such things proliferate. Those with the most capital, negotiating power with manufacturers, and proven techniques win here. Almost always.