Lessons Learned from Peapod

Peapod's success as an online grocer is now bringing it's experience to daily life - find out how you too can capitalize on this opportunity.

Peapod is rolling out what Tesco trialed in South Korea and several cities in China, expanding their virtual grocery store presence to commuter rail stations - think of this next incarnation as both advertisement and interactive billboard. The nation's first online grocer has struggled over the years as both shoppers and supermarkets continue to experiment with just what online food retailing is all about.

On average, according to Peapod, commuters in the cities where Peapod delivers, which includes Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, DC and more, spend an hour daily in transit to and from work.  Using the free Peapod app customers can access the virtual store either directly or by scanning bar codes of the products displayed on the billboards – taking multitasking to a whole new level.   

The billboards feature products that typically fill weekly grocery shopping baskets, including regulars like coffee, cleaning products, soft drinks, cereal, milk, fresh fruits and vegetables, while the app allows you to shop the entire store from the tap of a finger.

Peapod says it expects half of its orders to come through mobile devices by 2014. More recently Peapod reported that its app users spend more, on average, than the typical Peapod ticket of $150; however they failed to disclose by just how much.

All stores need to focus on upgrading mobile shopping benefits and technologies, rather than just providing a place for coupons or creating a shopping list. Allow shoppers to create a shopping bag that would be ready for pick up when the customer arrives at the store or target special offers at specific times. The handheld devices that most shoppers have are being used for just a fraction of the devices' capabilities - maybe it is time to expand our mobile food thinking!