Peapod Online Grocery Shopping free essay sample

Pea Pod Behaviors and Comparison What behaviors are involved in online grocery shopping? How does online grocery shopping compare with traditional shopping in terms of behavioral effort? The behaviors involved in online grocery shopping are information contact, funds access, and transaction. The information contact â€Å"†¦occurs when consumers come into contact with information, either intentionally or accidentally, about products, stores, or brands†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (J. Paul Peter, 2010, p. 95) Funds access or money â€Å"†¦is the primary medium of consumer exchange. The consumer must access this medium in one form or another before an exchange can occur†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (J. Paul Peter, 2010, p. 198) I do not believe that the store contact or the product contact is applicable here since the purchases are being made online and not in a brick and mortar store which would allow the customer to see, touch, and feel the items they wish to purchase. The behavioral efforts found in a n online grocery shopping can be described as in an emergency case only. We will write a custom essay sample on Peapod: Online Grocery Shopping or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Online shopping is used when the customer does not have enough time to get into the supermarket to shop. Yet the success of Pea Pod relies on these types of customers for the success of their continued business. The behaviors of traditional shopping are information contact, funds access, store contact, product contact, and transaction. What both the online and traditional shopper has in common are the consumption and disposition, and the communication. Consumers What types of consumers are likely to value online grocery shopping from Peapod? The type of consumers that are likely to value online grocery shopping from Peapod are the busy consumers, women, older people, people without cars (if the stores are not walking distance) and the â€Å"dual-income families (that) are strapped for time†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (J. Paul Peter, 2010, p. 209) to name a few. These customers may feel as if they have no time to get into a brick and mortar store. Their careers and quick paced life may make it inconvenient to take time from their day to get this task of grocery shopping done. Yet, with Peapod, they can order whatever they need online and they know that it will get delivered at their specified time. They did not have to drive to a store, park their car, walk into the store, find a cart or a basket, walk the aisles to pick their products, get on line to pay, put the items on the belt, pay for their items, bag their items, walk back to the car, load the car, drive home, unload the car, and put their groceries away. Peapod saves them all of the steps except for going online and picking the items, paying, and putting the items away once delivered. Opinion and Comparison Overall, what do you think about the idea of online grocery shopping? How does it compare with simply eating in restaurants and avoiding grocery shopping and cooking altogether? I will answer this question from a personal standpoint and not from data or information found in the specified reading. The idea of online shopping definitely intrigues me but I cannot find myself doing it. I can understand the need for this type of service based on the convenience but it is not for me. As a 46 year old career woman who is very rarely home, because of my required travels, I am the perfect customer for an online shopping program. Peapod is created and geared towards making my shopping experience easy and effortless but my better judgment goes against it. I am of the old fashioned belief that I need to see, touch, smell, and feel everything I purchase. I cannot find myself allowing someone else to pick the same pack of steak I would. How would the person picking my order know which stalk of broccoli I would pick had I done it myself? Although, I am usually limited for time, a trip to the grocery store, for me, is a fun and relaxing way to get the items I need to prepare the meals while I am at home. Interestingly enough, my grocery store of preference is Stop n’Shop which is the owner of Peapod. (J. Paul Peter, 2010, p. 209) Stop n’Shop has a system in their stores to allow the customer on the run to save a few steps and helps them get out the door quicker. They have scanning guns at the entrance of the store that a customer can use to scan their items and allow them to then put them directly into their shopping bag. Once all the shopping is done, you take the scanner to a register where the items you have scanned will download onto a screen which then allows you to pay for your purchase. It saves the time by not having to take all of your items out, put them on the belt, wait for a cashier to scan and charge the items, and then put them into bags. I have found this process to be wonderful and time saving for me. While, as I mentioned above, I am not a fan of online shopping and when compared to eating out; it is safe to say that buying nline will be cost effective as compared to a restaurant. Eating out all of the time instead of buying groceries and cooking at home will become very expensive. Also, the time spent getting to the restaurant, placing the order, waiting for the preparation, eating (if you are staying in), paying the bill, then getting back home will be a much longer process in time as compared to shopping and cooking at home. References J. Paul Peter, J. C. (2010). Consumer Behavio r amp; Marketing Strategy (9th Edition ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.