[haubey]

I remember when Publix tried to do grocery delivery in 2003 and it failed. It makes me think the issue isn't with the technology on the web-side, or even in the route planning. The costs of having refrigerated trucks continually roaming the streets in such large, suburban areas just might not be feasible yet.

[_delirium]

In lower-density areas, I think most supermarkets have found that online order + in-person pickup has been more successful, as a halfway solution that's much cheaper. A huge portion of their customers drive past one of their supermarkets on the way home from work anyway. Obviously this doesn't apply to people who don't drive to work in the first place, but about 90% of Americans do drive to work, so the numbers for that option are fairly favorable [1]. And in many zip codes the proportion approaches 100%. Walmart also recently rolled out an online-order / curbside pickup thing for groceries [2]. I'll be interested if any numbers emerge about how it's doing.

[1] http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/brookings-now/posts/2013/10/n...

[2] http://time.com/money/4054549/wal-mart-grocery-pickup-amazon...