Grocery Home Delivery Costs More to Provide than Traditional Retail Experiences
The introduction of e-commerce to the American cultural sphere took place nearly two decades ago, and many of the startups in the home delivery market have since come and gone. Groceries remain an important yet difficult delivery market due to lower-margin items that typically weigh more, increasing shipping costs.
Click-and-collect grocery models cost about 34.4 percent more to operate than the traditional retail experience, according to research by strategy+business. The study focused on a sample basket of 23 grocery items totaling $100, and found that cost-to-serve models totaled $21 for traditional retail experiences. The cost-to-serve for click-and-collect models reached $32, reported Forbes.