I remember when I was younger living in Chinese megacity Guangzhou, I never brought a shopping list for my grocery shopping. Grocery shopping was a daily routine, because there were many small stores in a walking distance near where I lived. I could do grocery shopping wherever and whenever. And my good young memory also helped.
After I moved to the US, I learned my lesson that I couldn’t do grocery shopping on a daily basis. The closest supermarket to my apartment was 10 minutes away—not on foot, but by car. And I didn’t have a car. So every weekend I carried my 45L backpack with a shopping list in hand—as I grow older, my memory seems to be more selective. I walked about 20 minutes to the supermarket, and an extra 10 minutes for walking back with a hefty load on my back, sometimes in my hands too.
Today following Amazon’s e-commerce trend, several supermarkets in my community are touting online grocery shopping. Giant, Walmart, Wholefood after purchased by Amazon and many alike are trying this new market.
That’s not news to me, because in Guangzhou, China last December, I had experienced the convenience of online grocery shopping. It’s Jack Ma’s another brainchild in China—the Hema stores which blend bricks-and-mortar stores with online shopping experience.
However, there’s a key prerequisite: customers need to download the Hema app on their smart phones.
All the Hema supermarkets are cashless—meaning even you have money in your pocket, you cannot shop at these stores. (In my opinion, this is the discrimination toward people who pay cash for everything.) With the Hema app, customers can do self-checkout in the supermarket or shop online. Fresh produce and prepared meals will be delivered to their homes after the buyers complete their e-payment online.
Alibaba opened its first Hema—Hippo Fresh—store in January 2016 in Shanghai and the idea of online grocery shopping has gained popularity in Chinese coastal cities. I think if Amazon’s online grocery experience were available in China, Alibaba’s Hema stores may not be faring that well. Alibaba is a lone e-commerce giant.
In the US, online grocery shopping is still very young. To provide satisfactory online shopping experience, a store needs to hire sufficient workers to pick up the online orders from beginning to the end. But in many cases, supermarkets are often understaffed. While most of supermarkets provide parking spaces, it wouldn’t be a surprise that it may be faster to drive oneself and shop in the store than order your grocery online.
I do notice the way that some American customers itemize their shopping lists is changing. They keep their lists on their smart phones instead of on a piece of paper. It’s paperless! Grocery coupons and savings are also changing from printing to electronic. It’s paperless, too! That’s the power of a smart phone—as we empower our phones greater, will that make us stupider?
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