Show HN: Ernie's, Click & Collect Groceries

This is an interesting concept. But I see a couple of issues:<p>- You need physical stores. These take a lot of money and expertise to set up and run. And to expand/scale in any meaningful way will take a LOT of money. Plus of course you've got the added expense of having to actually do the shopping on behalf of your customers (ie walk round your inventory and fill the basket). Kind of the opposite to the Ikea model. As Ryan Air have conclusively proved, people will put up with ANYTHING if it's cheap(er).<p>- Your stores are going to have to be as big as a supermarket to really be of use to people.<p>And on the competition side:<p>- What's the advantage over just ordering my goods online from a supermarket? I don't even need to go to the store then, they just get delivered to my front door. Or do supermarkets not do this in the US? IN the UK at any rate you can choose very specific delivery times as well.<p>And on the marketing side:<p>- 40 minutes in a grocery store? You can easily spend this much time online filling up your basket. Personally I've never felt that online ordering has saved me much time. The USP of online shopping is not time saving, it's "when" saving - I can do it during a quiet time at work for example. But with Ernies I still gotta go pick it up...<p>- 73 hours per year? Doesn't sound like much to me. And walking round the store is healthier than sitting in front of your PC :)

We are actively seeking additional investors to help us open our first location. We have commitments from local investors that have us 25% towards our fundraising goal. I have yet to seriously pitch any investors outside the mid-south, which is one of my reasons for posting here on HN. I would dearly love to give my brief investor pitch to anyone seriously interested in the concept.<p>The consumer value proposition is covered in the video linked above. The business value prop boils down to this: double-digit net margins. Seriously.<p>I can be reached at scott@erniesgrocery.com

I hope you manage to run with this. I'm sick of wasting so much time in the grocery store and I've been willing to pay to avoid it for a while now. Of course, there are some requirements:<p>Excellent interface. I have to be able to browse your selection as easily as I can browse in a store. This means I can find things I didn't intend to find. (That's good for you and me, both.)<p>Fast service at the curb. There's no point in saving the time inside the store if I just waste it sitting in the parking lot.<p>Reliable time estimates. (Actually, this dove-tails with the last one, doesn't it?)<p>Selection. I know you said you have selection, but I've yet to find 2 stores that had the same selection. I'm not terribly set on brands, but it does matter sometimes.<p>Stock. As in, things had better be in stock. Nothing makes me angrier than when the store is out of something I need. Yes, not even long lines.<p>Deli/Bakery/etc. When you've just dealt with a shopping trip, you don't feel like cooking that night. Bringing home something delicious and/or hot is a must.<p>And you should seriously consider delivery, and not just curb-side. I know it's a logistical nightmare, but it eliminates 2 of the things above quite neatly.<p>I also love the possibilities for the store itself. Because the customer never enters the store, all the standard storefront stuff is eliminated. You can use portable tablet registers to let the customer pay, and standard shopping carts are eliminated. You can use whatever is most efficient, or even invent something to make it better. And you can start off with people plucking things from shelves, but it may become economical to have robots doing that. (I believe Amazon does that, but they're pretty big and centralized.)<p>In short, do it right and you'll make me (and a lot of other people) really happy.

I like the concept. My wife used to work for plumgood food in nashville and the infrastructure build out seemed really expensive... seems like you may be able to avoid that with this if you partner with a local grocery store so you don't have to manage inventory. I would start there and put all my focus on creating a killer shopping experience online-- there are a lot of intangibles of just cruising through a grocery store that have to be rethought when you take it online. Best of luck!

I think this works well for processed foods and non-perishible items, but I see a real problem with meat and produce.<p>Shoppers are accustomed to doing their own quality control when shopping for fresh items. In a real grocery store it takes real effort to choose the best meat and produce from what's available, and that decision might just be to not purchase something. Do you intend to provide this as part of your service? If so, what controls will you have in place to guarantee quality?

I love that you're going after a market so ripe for disruption, appreciate your coming to Hacker News for feedback/community, and I wish you the best.<p>But I think you have it backwards...<p>The real problem is <i>not</i> the time spent in the supermarket, it's getting there and back. You're addressing the wrong issue.<p>Many people want their groceries delivered for all kind of reasons:<p><pre><code> - They have small children they don't want to take with them. - Weather. - Traffic. - Health issues, elderly, shut-ins, etc. - They don't have a car. - They work and can only go the same time as everyone else who works. </code></pre> On the other hand, if they are going to the trouble of driving all the way to the supermarket, then they might as well go inside:<p><pre><code> - to examine and choose their own produce - to examine and choose their own meat - to examine and choose specials (which can be done well on-line) - to handle and compare similar items - to consult with the butcher/deli manager/etc. </code></pre> The negative attitude of employees you cite in your video has never been an issue for me. The only real issue has been the check-out lines: there are never enough, the lines are too long, and they are expensive to operate.<p>If you are seeking large amounts of investment, why don't you just attack the real problem: getting out of the supermarket without waiting in line. All the necessary technology is already available. I just want to fill my cart and go home.<p>Please don't become another Webvan. Take that money and leverage current technology to eliminiate check-out lines in <i>existing</i> supermarkets forever. <i>That's</i> what people really want.<p>We don't need more infrastructure. We need better use of technology in existing infrastructure.<p>Bar codes dragged us that industry into the 20th century. RFID can drag it into the 21st.

Here in Miami we have these drive through convenience stores called Farm Stores. They just recently rolled out FarmStores.com which lets you order online, then schedule a pickup, and roll through and get your stuff. Very convenient, the $5 service charge I could do without, but still convenient.<p>The concept of only having a limited set of distribution/pickup points makes a ton of sense, much cheaper than home delivery. You are effectively offloading 2/3 of the delivery cost to the customer themselves.<p>Things I think this could miss out on: - Impulse shopping - higher margin items added - psychological benefits of grocery experience (ooh that'd be tasty, let me buy that).<p>fascinating marketplace to be in IMO. I'd pay not to have to wait 10 minutes in the deli counter for some sliced turkey.

Here in Montreal (perhaps also in other large cities) I can order groceries online from any of the major supermarkets and have them delivered to me (mind you, I don't have a car) for a reasonable minimum order value and a mere $2-3 extra. Maybe you are intentionally not targetting these cities, otherwise the idea is not really new at all.<p>You want to see a grumpy clerk? Go to Switzerland and forget to put the little sticker on your bags of produce. Damn.

I'll be honest, I'm skeptical. And I'm sure investors are skeptical too after spectacular failures like WebVan and Kozmo.<p>Sure these sites were different than what you are trying to accomplish (Online --&#62; Deliver to your door vs Online--&#62;Pickup at local store), but they still have similar problems. Groceries operate at razor-thin margins, and being a warehouse of food will only take you so far (just ask WebVan). How do you know if your "Ernies" associate will pick a ripe apple vs a bruised one? How can Ernies be "friendly" if all the interaction is ordering online/pickup at the store?<p>The biggest question for me is, what is to stop the competition from implementing this if it sees initial success? Order online --&#62; Pick up at store already exists for many types of businesses, if Meijer or Publix or Acme Grocery co sees success, they'll probably add this to their options, at a much easier cost than you will (as they will already have retail stores). What competitive advantage can you use that can fight against this?

A chain here is Western Massachusetts does this:<p><a href="http://www.bigy.com/bigy2go/" rel="nofollow">http://www.bigy.com/bigy2go/</a><p>It works pretty well and we use it a few times a month. The problem we have is that shopping online is like ordering at a closed stack library - browsing the aisles in person lets you see deals for similar items.

You might consider hitting up Angel List if you haven't done so already. If you're trying to raise for that first store - "proof of concept" before you go after more funds - it seems that might be a good avenue to raise those funds. Good luck to you!<p>Edit: it will probably help a lot that you've already got a portion committed, btw.

We already have this in Australia:<p><a href="http://www.colesonline.com.au/wcsstore/ConsumerDirectStorefrontAssetStore/images/catalog/Click&#38;CollectPages_v04/Click&#38;Collect_Melbourne_Brunswick.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.colesonline.com.au/wcsstore/ConsumerDirectStorefr...</a>

It's a location thing. A number of stores have tried this by me, but only one has really pulled it off. People often use it for their big family orders that are well upwards of $100. In general, the place also has better prices than other stores. There are repeat customers, but shopping online certainly doesn't account for the majority of their grocery store runs. That said, the place constantly has a line of cars with huge orders being loaded into their trunks. Never small orders.<p>Make sure you're in an area that's largely populated by families, and make sure your prices are already good.

I like it. One think to take into consideration is people's relationship with food. It's going to be a hard sell for some people to buy produce or meat sight unseen when selection can have a huge effect on quality.<p>That being said I think you could build a really interesting interface. Also tremendous overhead savings, no cashiers, baggers, carts, storefront. Basically just a refrigerated warehouse and limited staff.<p>Awesome.

I'm at work, and so don't really want to watch the video, so I'm going to ask directly:<p>What does this give me over Ocado (or their many many many competitors - I mean, Asda deliver?!), who I order from, and then they deliver? This sounds like it just adds an extra step of my having to show up, rather than just agreeing that I'll be sat at home in my PJs watching Jeremy Kyle at the right time...

Who made your video on the homepage? It is nicely done.

I think its an interesting approach setting up physical storefronts. Has this been thought about as a "drive-thru" add-on for existing grocery stores managed by the ernie's software? I think the number one use case is the quick trip – I need milk, eggs, bread etc. on my way home for breakfast tomorrow. I think this is really neat and I wish you complete success.

Sam's Club has been offering something like this for at least a few years by my recollection.<p><a href="http://www.samsclub.com/sams/pagedetails/content.jsp?pageName=howToCnP" rel="nofollow">http://www.samsclub.com/sams/pagedetails/content.jsp?pageNam...</a>

This is one of the ideas that make you kick yourself and say _why did I not think of it first?_<p>Good luck to you and I hope it succeeds!