Amazon Fresh - Amazon Groceries to a Door Near You

A fascinating discovery occurred the other day on my way to Chicago from Michigan.  As I was driving down I-94 I saw a delivery truck coming the other direction.  It looked a lot like the size / model of a UPS truck except it was somewhat lime green.  On the side of the delivery truck was a logo that said "Amazon Fresh".  It had the distinctive Amazon "arrow" logo and I thought to myself - OK, here it comes.

When I arrived at my location I immediately googled Amazon Fresh and was taken to their website and found it fascinating that it said " They offered limited delivery to Seattle neighborhoods" yet I had just seen an Amazon Fresh delivery truck in Southwestern Michigan! I had heard of this even as far back as 2007 and 2008 however I was shocked to see the truck in my area.

Then today Twitter and other news services lit up with the news Amazon is going to dramatically expand its grocery delivery service.  Those of us who were around in the late '90s remember webvan, Peapod and an entire host of these that ended really badly.  However, Amazon has been able to execute extremely well those things others could never figure out.  I would not count Amazon out at all and I would never discount their ability to make this work.

Along with a massive expansion of DCs, a push into same day delivery and now Amazonfresh going nationwide (or at least expanding) I would be very careful if I were a bricks and mortar retailer.  These guys are for real and it looks like they will be a force to be reckoned with in grocery delivery. 

Note:  I have written fairly extensively about the "delivery wars" including the idea of crowd sourcing for home delivery.  It is worth reading through all of this as you will see a pattern developing and a true "war" about to take place. 

The Food Supply Chain - "Not in Season" Goes The Way of The Busy Signal

An area in supply chain where I have never worked yet have always been wildly impressed with is the food supply chain / cold supply chain.  Today for the 4th of July we were shopping in a Meijer store in our local town.  The amount of fresh fruit and vegetables available was just astonishing.  Were it not for innovation in temperature control and other aspects of this supply chain this type of food would not be available so readily.

Remember when you would want some fruit or vegetable and your parents would tell you it was not available because it was "not in season".

"Not in season" is not something you hear much anymore;  It has gone the way of the busy signal.  Everything is in season somewhere in the world and the sophisticated food supply chains now bring it to you, where ever you are, and amazingly at very low cost.

Of course this comes at a cost of sustainability and there is now a big push to buy local.  Buying local means, however, you will not get everything all the time.  I recently read of a cherry farmer who lost his cherries in Michigan due to the crazy early warm weather we had this year.  He was able to secure cherries in Poland!  If it were not for a sophisticated supply chain this would not be possible.  "Buy local" in this case would mean no cherry pie.

So, thanks to all the great individuals and suppliers working in this supply chain.  Your innovation truly has made the world a better place and I really do believe we have "solved world hunger".