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Online food delivery, progress or a killer of the local village shop?

By ⋅ September 3, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
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I was in Bideford last week sat in cafe enjoying a lovely cup of tea when i got talking to a lady who asked me the usual, you on holiday, have you come far etc….? I ws just up for the day but it did raise the point what she was upto, and in fact she had to come to ‘town’ as she called it for her weekly food shopping as the local village shop had closed recently, and she went onto say;

‘with this new fangelled internet, people just dont go out and buy local nowdays’

her words…. so that got me thinking…..

Online food delivery is now part of many peoples lives, Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Ocado all play a major part in making peoples lives easier, you simply create an account with your favourite store. Its all pretty standard, you first choose your preferred delivery slot, then choose your items, checkout and pay. Somewhere in that agreed time slot your food shopping is delivered, usually with loads of carrier bags but it arrives.






The question has to be asked though is it right that a multinational using their buying power and economies of scale uses the internet to deliver at a very convenient date and time, attacking in some cases the very lifeblood of rural villages? This lady’s village shop had closed as the new people coming into the village she had lived in all her life either shoped online or could drive to town, for her it was the bus and her feet.


You have to hand it to Tesco et al for using their foresight and business to do this, but in areas where there is a high elderly population they clearly suffer and is this right, what do the supermarkets offer for these members of society? At the moment it is zero maybe they can/and should look at exploiting this after all we all eat and all need milk and bread… what do you think?

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  • http://www.greenlandstudio.co.uk Michael Greenland

    Alistair, I like your thinking – I agree, it’s a shame that the village shop is dying out.

    But – we (collectively, the public) are to blame.

    Remember the Milkman? Where is he these days? Unfortunately, the rise in car ownership brought about the demise of the milkman – because the rise in discount price superstores – which then also led to the demise of the local shop.

    It’s often the case that businesses will expand and contract based on market forces. Businesses as entities are often (but not always) driven by profit first, social responsibility second.

    The gap in the market is to communicate (by letter or sales person) to non-internet people an see if they would like their milk/bread delivered. Probably won’t happen – unfortunately.

    • http://www.alistairgleave.co.uk Alistair Gleave

      Thanks for your comment, interestingly enough since this I (at home) have started getting our milk delivered by Dairy Crest, they have a great website http://www.milkandmore.co.uk that lets you manage the account online. Maybe we should all be prepared to do more ‘locally’ or else what we really cherish will wither and die, and then i bet others really will complain.

      Alistair

    • http://www.redrockrunners.co.uk Sarah

      In kingsteignton the local shops so themselves no favours with opening hours to suit them whereas Tesco is open all hours to suit me, not a difficult choice for a hardworking mum.

      • http://www.alistairgleave.co.uk Alistair Gleave

        Thanks Sarah for your comment, very intersting time certainly is a big decider for lots of people

  • http://www.greenlandstudio.co.uk Michael Greenland

    Alistair, I like your thinking – I agree, it’s a shame that the village shop is dying out.

    But – we (collectively, the public) are to blame.

    Remember the Milkman? Where is he these days? Unfortunately, the rise in car ownership brought about the demise of the milkman – because the rise in discount price superstores – which then also led to the demise of the local shop.

    It’s often the case that businesses will expand and contract based on market forces. Businesses as entities are often (but not always) driven by profit first, social responsibility second.

    The gap in the market is to communicate (by letter or sales person) to non-internet people an see if they would like their milk/bread delivered. Probably won’t happen – unfortunately.

    • Alistair

      Thanks for your comment, interestingly enough since this I (at home) have started getting our milk delivered by Dairy Crest, they have a great website http://www.milkandmore.co.uk that lets you manage the account online. Maybe we should all be prepared to do more ‘locally’ or else what we really cherish will wither and die, and then i bet others really will complain.

      Alistair

  • http://www.redrockrunners.co.uk Sarah

    In kingsteignton the local shops so themselves no favours with opening hours to suit them whereas Tesco is open all hours to suit me, not a difficult choice for a hardworking mum.

    • Alistair

      Thanks Sarah for your comment, very intersting time certainly is a big decider for lots of people

  • http://ourgreencompany.wordpress.com/ Sue

    As we buy our meat and frozen fish from the supermarket counters, and bemoan that “you just can’t find a local butcher or fishmonger anymore”, perhaps we need to take a bit of responsibility ourselves. Today’s lack of high-street fishmongers may well be a future-echo of tomorrow’s lack of high-street fruit and veg shops, newsagents or indeed any shop other than the pound-shops, phone shops and charity shops.
    With a £1 in £8 UK spend going to Tesco’s, we only have ourselves to blame though – nobody is forcing us to spend it there…. yet!

    • http://www.alistairgleave.co.uk Alistair Gleave

      Very valid comments Sue no one is forcing us to shop at Tesco et al, maybe we are just like the convenience, ability to drive, park outside also. Personally i think free parking has had a big effect, if you have to pay to park to then spend money locally, you compare this to where you can drive to a supermarket park for free and outside i think this is a big driver to the supermarkets.

      Thanks for your comment,

      Alistair

  • http://ourgreencompany.wordpress.com/ Sue

    As we buy our meat and frozen fish from the supermarket counters, and bemoan that “you just can’t find a local butcher or fishmonger anymore”, perhaps we need to take a bit of responsibility ourselves. Today’s lack of high-street fishmongers may well be a future-echo of tomorrow’s lack of high-street fruit and veg shops, newsagents or indeed any shop other than the pound-shops, phone shops and charity shops.
    With a £1 in £8 UK spend going to Tesco’s, we only have ourselves to blame though – nobody is forcing us to spend it there…. yet!

    • Alistair

      Very valid comments Sue no one is forcing us to shop at Tesco et al, maybe we are just like the convenience, ability to drive, park outside also. Personally i think free parking has had a big effect, if you have to pay to park to then spend money locally, you compare this to where you can drive to a supermarket park for free and outside i think this is a big driver to the supermarkets.

      Thanks for your comment,

      Alistair

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