'Internet supermarkets' increasingly popular in Japan

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kirakira25 at 01:26 PM JST - 10th September

I came from this industry in the UK when I moved to Japan and I am pleased to see it growing here, BUT in my opinion they are not - yet - doing as good a job as they could. The choice is limited and prices can be higher, although delivery charges are generally lower than in the UK.

I tried to use the co-op system, but I was completely put off by the huge number of catalogues that all seemed to be offering the same thing anyway, the amount of paperwork to be completed, and most of all the sales person that insisted on coming to see me first. Why couldn`t they have just let me get on with it??!
timorborder at 03:01 PM JST - 10th September

Wonder if John Sculley (on time Apple CEO) has read this document. After being shown the door at Apple, he had a period as the CEO of a supermarket startup in the US (forgotten the name). I believe the venture died in the ass rather quickly because of the great geographical distances encountered even in California. Obviously, such things are not an insure on the Japanese archipelago.
lostrune2 at 05:19 PM JST - 10th September

This industry had a boom and bust in America back during the dotcom era.
XXXXX at 02:16 AM JST - 11th September

yeah they're finally catching up
sk4ek at 02:25 AM JST - 11th September

That was Webvan, and it died a very painful (and expensive) sort of death...
societymike at 08:06 AM JST - 11th September

btw, this kind of delivery super market shopping has been in Japan for over a decade. They have had call-in service using the latest catalog they give you with each order, since the 90's. You just call the hot-line, give the item numbers and quantity and they bring it to you in minutes. This same service made it to the "mobile phone" internet in late 90's and expanded to normal internet based websites in the last 8 years or so.

Also, you can order entire meals from some of these places, no, not prepared, just the raw ingredients and recipe to create the meals. It's an awesome idea. My wife has been doing it for a long time. She will browse their menu, sometimes on her cell, then choose the dinner menu and send in the email. Less then an hour later, they delivery all the raw ingredients and recipe to the door and she prepares and cooks it.
Hotbox08 at 11:37 AM JST - 11th September

Companies like "Yoshikei", "Pal System", and Co-op have been around a long time and offer the ingredients for creating meals, at affordable prices. These services are good, because they provide just enough ingredients for how ever amount of people you choose for. No more buying a whole head of cabbage, or a bag of potatoes, and either seeing the rest go to waste, or trying to bang your head figuring other ways to cook the rest of the ingredients.
doedel at 05:38 PM JST - 11th September

Sounds like a very convenient set of systems. However, I would miss the wife-watching.
butterfly1 at 08:57 PM JST - 11th September

Just started using Orange Life - its great! Delivered to the door with a lock around the boxes if Im not home :) Order by midnight and its here the next day --- price is almost the same as the daiei etc down the street :)
onewrldoneppl at 10:41 PM JST - 11th September

tsumehoudai supermarkets hold the most interest for me. for example, if i pay 100 yen for a plastic bag, they will allow me to stuff as many cucumebers as i can into the bag. this means, i can walk away with as many as 50 cucumbers for only 100 yen. sigh if only the rates in shibuya's/roppongi's entertainment districts were just as reasonable.
kokuryu at 02:41 AM JST - 12th September

Services like these were great when they were available in the US, but rapidly died out with the rising fuel costs. I suppose in greater metropolitan areas this is a good thing in Japan and it can work very good for the most part. I wish they would re-institute this here in the US and have delivery prices as good as those people are talking about here. Maybe a Japanese supermarket chain needs to debut in the US?
sk4ek at 07:38 AM JST - 12th September

A couple of US chains DO offer similar services (Albertson's is one, I think, in the Northwest at least), having gotten wise to the fact that the central distribution method attempted by PeaPod and WebVan was too costly to maintain, and now basing the services out of individual store locations, as we see in Tokyo, etc. The model only requires a couple of dedicated staff in-store (to take in orders and pick and pack the merchandise), and a couple of delivery drivers (since deliveries are restricted geographically to the store's own neighborhood).
helloklitty at 05:09 PM JST - 12th September

Will they cook it, too?
Spanishwoman at 08:41 PM JST - 12th September

I ordered ruby grapefruits last Thursday and got yellow ones... How do I prove it?
illsayit at 01:11 PM JST - 16th September

Thats what Ive just been thinking. I want my local store online and deliveries! I know whats there-they could get some 'bigger' sized products, especially because they are delivery. Like flour, or sugar. The salt they have is big :D.....Please pretty please with a cherry? I hate food shopping and the trolleys and carrying all that stuff to the car etcetcetc and we dont even live that far. Being local, sometimes I go there, I already know it and feel confident at using it, and wouldnt feel the need for things like insurance, on a simple slip of the colour of grapes.