No idea what to cook today? Don’t feel like waiting in long lines at the supermarket? Or maybe you never have time after work to get the groceries you need before the store closes. The internet offers a convenient and, above all, time-saving solution: online grocery shopping. Whether it’s shopping at an online supermarket or having a grocer put together ingredients for a meal you’ll cook yourself—the hungry internet user has a wealth of options at their disposal.
Ingredients on the doorstep
Online stores like kochabo.at or feinkoch.org offer a good mix of delivery service and in-house cooking. From the recipe to the exact list of ingredients and even the perfect wine, everything is provided by the online grocer. The only thing you have to do yourself is the cooking. These online grocery retailers primarily advertise high-quality domestic products, affordable or free delivery, and innovative, flavorful recipes. The ordering process is clearly illustrated, making it easy for any customer to place an order. If a meal happens to be a bit more elaborate—leaning toward gourmet cuisine—the Feinkoch portal offers the option to easily prepare these dishes at home. In this case, delivery isn’t free, but the focus here is also strongly on high-quality and regional products.
Pizza & More on Demand
Online delivery services are currently experiencing a real boom across Europe. It all began in 1999 in the Netherlands with the launch of the online delivery platform thuisbezorgd.nl. The platform brought together various restaurants and delivery services, offering internet users a wide selection all in one place. In 2008, the idea came to Austria with the online delivery service Mjam.at. Mjam has also developed city-specific subpages, such as “Pizza Salzburg,” to speed up the ordering process and delivery in individual towns and cities. This delivery service now connects users with over 600 partner restaurants across Austria—a number that is steadily rising.
Germany is falling back on the familiar
Another example of doing grocery shopping online comes from our neighboring country. The concept behind the German online grocery retailer Emmas Enkel is relatively simple: it aims to combine the traditional feel of a neighborhood “Aunt Emma’s store” with the technology of the Internet age. In addition to a wide range of products, customers can also order ready-made product bundles organized by themes such as “Party,” “Christmas,” or “Girls’ Night.”
Supermarkets also deliver
But it’s not just small grocery stores that are taking advantage of online retail. Even larger chains, such as Billa and Merkur, want to offer their customers the option of home delivery. Shoppers are offered a wide range of products and affordable delivery. For example, you can have organic groceries delivered to your home online from Bio-Fiedler. The product range extends from baby food to dog food.
Online grocery shopping is a relatively new—but very attractive—alternative to shopping at the supermarket. And since the online market’s potential hasn’t yet been fully realized, we’ll definitely have to wait a while longer for it to reach its peak with new offerings and ideas. We can already look forward to that!
