What can retailers learn from the Jet City Grocery failure and how might they apply it to their own fresh delivery initiatives? What does this mean for the viability of Jet.com as a standalone e-tailer, and what do you think Walmart’s long-term plan is for the Jet.com website/brand?
Interactive Edge’s CEO, Zel Bianco comments, featured on RetailWire’s Braintrust :
NYC is a very difficult place to navigate and deliver on the promise of same-day or next-day fresh foods, especially fish. When you consider that the fish needed to be picked up in Manhattan then delivered to the Jet fulfillment center in the Bronx and then most likely delivered to customers back in Manhattan, it was a costly and time consuming endeavor no matter how you cut it. Construction, grid-locked intersections, street closures for parades and politicians, water main breaks, and street paving make it all the more difficult to deliver on the promise, and at some point you have to cut your losses. Perhaps this works well in suburban areas, although I bet the fish is not as good.
Read the entire article from RetailWire: