Ocado
1. As a customer, what do you want from an online grocery store? How does consumers’ behaviour differ when shopping for groceries on-line vs. off-line? What are the implications of these differences on the operations of an on-line vs. off-line store? 2. Ocado delivers from a central warehouse straight to the customer, while Tesco uses its existing stores to deliver to nearby customers. What are the pros and cons of each model? Which is a better business model to serve the UK market? Why?
Consumers demonstrate different behaviors when shopping online and offline. These differences affect not only the strategy but also how that strategy is finally implemented from an operationally. Because the experiences considered online and offline are different, the customer must ponder the pros and cons of each model. When pondering, the consumer considers the three C’s: convenience, cost, and conscientiousness within the context of both experiences.
The customer judges the online providers differently than the typical grocery stories. Therefore, online grocery stores must take this into consideration in order to convince customers to switch to online purchasing. Every minor change implicates many operational challenges that must be successfully overcome.
Convenience:
Convenience is the main force that lures customers to purchase their groceries online. As a result, the customer needs the beginning of this process to be alluring and simple. Thus, the actual website needs to be both aesthetically appealing and user friendly. The website needs to be good enough to pull the consumers out of their comfort zone and into the world of online grocery shopping. Once in, the process that is set up must be user friendly. This contrasts with retail stores in which location plays a major role with consumers. A customer might return to a store that has a monopoly on location, even if the store itself is not arranged perfectly. The online store, however, must be flawless.
Consumers demonstrate different behaviors when shopping online and offline. These differences affect not only the strategy but also how that strategy is finally implemented from an operationally. Because the experiences considered online and offline are different, the customer must ponder the pros and cons of each model. When pondering, the consumer considers the three C’s: convenience, cost, and conscientiousness within the context of both experiences.
The customer judges the online providers differently than the typical grocery stories. Therefore, online grocery stores must take this into consideration in order to convince customers to switch to online purchasing. Every minor change implicates many operational challenges that must be successfully overcome.
Convenience:
Convenience is the main force that lures customers to purchase their groceries online. As a result, the customer needs the beginning of this process to be alluring and simple. Thus, the actual website needs to be both aesthetically appealing and user friendly. The website needs to be good enough to pull the consumers out of their comfort zone and into the world of online grocery shopping. Once in, the process that is set up must be user friendly. This contrasts with retail stores in which location plays a major role with consumers. A customer might return to a store that has a monopoly on location, even if the store itself is not arranged perfectly. The online store, however, must be flawless.