Yes, yes, we know… Shop-Rite is coming. Whole Foods is coming. But how come no one is talking about the fact that Fresh Direct is already here?! I remember first hearing about Fresh Direct years ago when I worked in NYC and at the time they weren’t yet delivering to New Jersey. But the concept was practical and cool. Make a list, order your groceries online, and schedule the day and time you want them delivered. It was particularly cool because they weren’t offering off-brand products and you weren’t limited to buying in bulk like some other services at the time. And periodically I’d check to see if they had expanded to the Garden State, but it was always too soon. Then, a while back, I saw that they were delivering to Jersey City, which was good to hear even though it made no difference in my life still. And then, the inevitable happened! I looked online and saw that they were delivering to more locations in New Jersey, including Essex County!
So I put a list together, ordered my groceries, and had them scheduled for delivery. Now you tell me, how much time does it take you to shop for your groceries? Include making the list (please tell me you make a list), driving to the store, navigating the ever-changing aisles to find the brown sugar, and the shoppers who clearly didn’t make a list and seem to always be in your way, factor in the person in front of you in the checkout line that realizes at the last minute that they need to run back to get one more thing. Then the ride back home and the fun of bringing your groceries inside. Two to three hours, maybe? Doesn’t seem like that long, but imagine what you could do with a few extra hours over the weekend?
Now you may be thinking, “Yeah, but I bet you they kill you on pricing or delivery charges.” And I thought so too, but I did some price comparisons and across the board Fresh Direct was generally on par with the pricing at most grocery stores. Sure they tacked on delivery charge, but it was only $6! You’ll pay half of that to get a pizza delivered! The driver arrived on time and when I opened the door he pleasantly asked, “Where would you like these?” Truth be told, there were a few items that they don’t carry that I wanted to order, but the overall selection they offer is very impressive.
A few more things to keep in mind. First, its 2014. Why haven’t we been shopping like this already?? With the introduction of similar services from Peapod (Stop & Shop’s online option) and Amazon Fresh (grocery service from the folks at amazon.com) among others, it’s pretty clear that this is the direction grocery shopping is going. And it makes sense in the same way that car services like Lyft and Uber make sense. Second, the delivery window is only two hours, so you don’t have the inconvenience of blocking out half the day that utility services have conditioned us to do. Also, the range of products they offer span all grocery department (household, health & beauty, baby, and pet items) and include organic & all natural, kosher, gluten-free, and locally produced groceries. This isn’t the future of grocery shopping. This is right here, right now.
