Web Mania: Grocers Go On-Line

摘要

If mouse and screen replace automobile and foot, then food marketing, including product formulation and packaging, will enter a whole era. Led by mega-marketer Wal-Mart, the concept of on-line grocery marketing has caught fire. The company, with annual sales of $104 billion, has thousands of products, including food, in a searchable on-line database (www.wal-mart.com). Load up a virtual grocery cart with the food items you want, pay by credit card, key in your shipping information, and within a day or two your order is delivered to your door. If you don't have a credit card, you can order one right from the Internet site. Many on-line services have been striving to develop customer bases since the late 1980s, often with proprietary systems that didn't use the Internet. Today, virtually every grocery shopping service is Internet-based.