Thinking about offering a shopping delivery service

[Eurostar]

I live in Brixton and was wondering whether this might be profitable and a good way to get fit: people phone me in the morning with a shopping order - groceries or whatever - I buy it all in the middle of the day and deliver it in the afternoon. Local only - I buy everything in Brixton and deliver up to 3 miles away. No fixed delivery times, so I can plan a sensible route.

I don't have a trailer and the good quality cargo ones look dreadfully expensive.

Any thoughts? AFAICS the existing services force you into buying everything from one of the big supermarkets. Maybe people would like a service where you can get 4 things from market stalls and 3 from the wholefoods shop and 2 from Lidl. I wonder what they'd pay?

 

[hoopdriver]

Well, you can always try, but the big supermarkets and Amazon have that sort of thing pretty well sewn up - and with supermarket price matching they eliminate most people's need to go to multiple supermarkets and shop around. And what are you going to charge, and how is your service going to be more attractive than the supermarket's? Or quicker? On a bicycle? More convenient hours? And is it just you or are you thinking of a team of cyclists?

Also, what are they going to buy in a market stall that is going to be cheaper or better than what they can buy in a supermarket? Cheap and convenient is the driver for home delivery grocery services.

And which market stalls? Are you thinking of fresh fruit and veggies? In which case the sorts of people who are like to be choosy about their fresh fruit and veggies are likely to want to select them themselves, unless you have some kind of well-known, well-established culinary expertise that would make you stand out.

I hate to sound negative but I just don't see this becoming a success, at least not by the little info you've given, and if good quality cargo trailers seem dreadfully expensive to you at the outset - I'd say you are probably undercapitalised as well.

 

[Slick]

Seems a bit overly complicated to me, but that doesn't mean it won't work. I think you could make almost anything work if you work hard enough, especially with a service. You're asking the wrong people though, unless there are lots of CC'ers from Brixton?

Market research will give you the answer.

 

[Lozz360]

Think about what would you pay for such a service compared with how much you would need to make it work. The large supermarkets will make a profit on the goods they sell plus charge typically charge £5 for delivery. They also have well designed websites whereby you can pick from a list of your list of usual purchases and special offers. Very convenient for the customer. Mixing market stall produce with Lidl’s, etc. and then deliver is going to take a number of hours so you would need to charge upwards of say, £20 to make it worth your while. Presumably you would need a trailer on your bike. Frozen goods will be awkward, especially in summer. If the customer rejects any goods, you could be out of pocket unless you use a decent profit margin which would then price you further out of the market.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

I like the idea. You need carrying capacity though. 4 x panniers? Or a cheaper cargo bike like a Surly Big Dummy?

Could you charge the same as dog sitters/walkers or a gardener? It’ll be interesting to see how you go. Good luck.

 

[Drago]

Buy a used kiddie trailer, bin the 'bodywork' and mount a large box on the chassis.

 

[Sharky]

Could you target one or two specific shops in Brixton that don't offer a delivery service, but would like to? A customer would still go into the shop to make their selection/purchases and the shopkeeper would box the stuff up and keep it until the agreed delivery time and then you would collect and deliver. Bit like the "carry to car" service that our local supermarket offers, but you could extend this up to 3 miles.

 

[Andrew_P]

depends on what you want as an income. What do Deliveroo or Uber Eats charge extra to deliver? If the target market are within a few miles are they going to pay £3-5 for delivery? I reckon you would struggle to earn £5 an hour unless you can get he shops to pick and pack it for you to collect and pay. Guessing you don't want to do Deliveroo due to the majority of work being in the evenings and weekends?

 

[PeteXXX]

Would you be doing this as a living, or for beer money?
There might be a niche market out there that like the idea of the bike, rather than a diesel van chugging away on their doorstep, delivering their goods.

 

[Alan O]

Delivery charges for me are typically £1.50 from Asda and Morrisons, never more than £2.50, because I never choose the most expensive delivery slots. Also, regular shoppers can buy long-term delivery passes which makes it even cheaper per delivery. And the supermarkets typically make a loss on the actual delivery.

Then you've got the issue of payment. Do you visit the customer and get their cash upfront? Why would they trust a complete stranger? You pay up front first? What do you do when they dispute the goods, don't want what you've delivered, won't pay?

I really can't see this working, sorry. At least not well enough to earn more than a couple of pounds an hour at best.

I'd also caution against pro-bike thoughts of how nicely environmental it all is - remember, this forum has a pro-bike bias naturally. Cold hard economics must come first.

 

[roadrash]

I know it doesn't happen very often but what would you do in conditions like parts of the country have today, ie several inches of snow, I'm another that thinks its a non starter

 

[screenman]

Or you could buy a windscreen repair kit off of me, strap that to your bike and go and make good living. I supply a few guys around the world who do the job off of small motorbikes, in your area the bike would be fine for transporting the tools.

 

[buzzy-beans]

Cash flow is the major problem, or rather getting the cash in from your customer and what happens when they are out when you try to make the delivery.

I am afraid to say, as far as I am concerned @Eurostar your business idea is a non starter from day one!

 

[Markymark]

Who would be your market? Anyone who currently uses online shopping would be incredibly unlikely to switch. The benefit of buying from multiple supermarkets is tiny compared to the loss of using websites that have cost millions to get right. How will they know which products they're buying? How will they browse? How will they see offers? How will they know how much it costs? How will they save time when websites use history and favourites? Why will they accept a much worse delivery schedule?

The only people I can possibly think would sacrifice everything lost from internet shopping are possibly those who are unable to shop and aren't using the internet (elderly, disabled, but even then it would be a tiny minority).

If you are relying on people who use multiple shops they would be very few and far between. Most would have a core shop for the main shop and then pop into the other shops as and when. Those that crave an organic variety (vegetables or high quality free range meat) would use one of the many services that delivery a variety box weekly which again have excellent websites to manage it.

 

[mjr]

I know it doesn't happen very often but what would you do in conditions like parts of the country have today, ie several inches of snow, I'm another that thinks its a non starter

Cargo bikes/trikes with suitable tyres are probably among the vehicles most likely to make it through in such conditions. I don't think that's a big problem with this business idea.