
PepsiCo cuts out grocery stores and sells directly to consumers - hhs
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanabandoim/2020/05/16/pepsico-cuts-out-grocery-stores-and-sells-directly-to-consumers-through-new-websites/
======
toast0
This could be mildy interesting if it (eventually) lets people order parts of
their catalog that are less well distributed.

There are often limited time flavors that may not warrant shelf space in every
store, but likely also don't warrant a lenghty trip to find them. If they
could be ordered, that would be nice.

You could maybe get these from Amazon, but it would be better to order direct
and have the care and attention to detail in packing that Amazon lacks.

~~~
lostapathy
Even a locator to find the limited flavors would be an improvement. I get
around enough that some grocery store stocking it would be not too far out of
my way to stock up, but I can’t stop at every grocery store in the metro
hoping to find it.

~~~
dangrossman
[https://contact.pepsico.com/pepsi/product-
locator](https://contact.pepsico.com/pepsi/product-locator)

[https://www.mountaindew.com/store-
locator/](https://www.mountaindew.com/store-locator/)

I used these to watch Diet Mountain Dew Code Red slowly disappear from my
area, then region, then entire coast over the course of a few years. Haven't
had it in ages now.

~~~
lostapathy
I was using these when the real sugar dr pepper was a thing, and they never
seemed accurate.

At the time, anyway, it felt like they were flagging the whole regional
grocery chain as carrying it, when only select stores ever actually had it.
I'd go and there would be no stock, and no place on the shelf for it either.

~~~
082349872349872
It may no longer be true, but several decades ago it was possible to find
sugar-sweetened soft drinks in the US by looking for kosher labels.

(I have a coke can next to me as I type; it is sugar-sweetened)

~~~
lostapathy
I've never actually seen coke made with sugar in cans! I've always heard of
"kosher coke"/"passover coke" but never been able to find it.

Pepsi was selling "Dr Pepper Heritage" (green/yellow cans) and "Pepsi
Throwback" for a few years around a decade ago. It was pretty widely available
at gas stations in the midwest, although 12-packs of the Dr Pepper was not
very common.

"Mexican coke" is still made with real sugar. Costco has it in glass bottles
pretty consistently, and sometimes has pepsi in glass bottles with real sugar
as well (although the pepsi isn't labeled like it's a Mexico product).

They have glass bottles of pepsi and coke around Kansas City in Mexican
grocery stores as well as, oddly enough, the gas stations on the Kansas
Turnpike. Half liter bottles are more common in the Mexican stores, but wal-
mart often has 12 oz bottles of Mexican coke in the Hispanic section.

~~~
082349872349872
Sorry about that. I'm not sure why we get sugar* and you all don't, but it's
probably something to do with the invisible hand.

* just checked all the cans in my house. Six-packs in the fridge from the grocery came from the EU, and have sugar. Two-fours in the basement from the discounter came from some nordic-speaking country, and have sugar.

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ReticentVole
Why not just cut out the middleman and eat from a bag of sugar directly?

~~~
the_unknown
Fun Dip was basically exactly this.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun_Dip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun_Dip)

~~~
ransom1538
Wow. What a product. I would have killed to see that pitch meeting. Not only
do you just eat sugar out of a bag - but the utensil (stick for feeding) is
also made of sugar.

------
thekevan
I think the title is misleading. But "PepsiCo recognizes need for shopping
without stores and offers home delivery website as an option" doesn't sound as
sexy.

~~~
jnorthrop
This is a more important market indicator then your comment implies. I work
for a very large CPG and certain brands, such as food staples are crushing it,
but impulse type products are really struggling. With uncertainty around when
we return to "normal" companies such as PepsiCo are scrambling to figure out
how best to connect directly to the consumer to maintain market share. CPGs
are investing a ton of resources testing and learning in this space.

I haven't commented in this community in a long time, but as you all are
entrepreneurs it is worth noting that this moment is an opportunity to disrupt
100 year-old entrenched CPG enterprises as the supply chain to the consumer is
in disarray.

~~~
hanniabu
To save others the lookup:

CPG = Consumer packaged goods

~~~
lotsofpulp
When I was a kid, we were taught in school that before you initialize, you
spell it out, and then put the initialism in parantheses afterward.

~~~
cheez
When I became an adult, I realized that people like to feel better about
themselves by using short forms that others wouldn't know.

~~~
hanniabu
Eh, if it's part of your job where you're used to using the abbreviation
because you're used to everyone around you using it and knowing what it means
then sometimes it can be easy to let it slip when having discussions out of
work that pertain to your line of work (as with the parent).

------
RunningDroid
Links to the sites:

[https://www.pantryshop.com/](https://www.pantryshop.com/)

[https://www.snacks.com/](https://www.snacks.com/)

(Forbes apparently doesn't believe in linking to the site(s) they're talking
about.)

~~~
Larrikin
With all the hate being lobbed at sodas in this thread it's pretty
disappointing that they don't actually sell soda. I rarely eat sweets or have
dessert after a meal. Pretty much the only thing I consume that's actually
sweet with added sugar is a soda here and there. I find the sugar lite and
sugar free alternatives like La Croix and diet coke to just be disgusting and
would rather just consume water when I attend some tech event and the host
thinks they're doing the attendees a favor by only offering "healthy
alternatives". Without a car soda is pretty much the most annoying grocery
item to get.

Two liters are pretty much impossible to consume before they go flat unless
you drink way too much soda already so only individually packaged sodas make
sense to buy. But they are extremely bulky and you pretty much have no room
for other groceries.

Online they tend to go for nearly twice the price as the grocery store and
they have less flavors. Also the only time I've ever had a delivery cancelled
because of a shipping problem is because the sodas weren't packaged correctly
and ruined a package. This happened a few times before I realised how badly I
was getting ripped off. Buying soda at cost from the manufacturer that
actually specializes in soda logistics would have been amazing.

~~~
def8cefe
Try SodaStream. You can buy Coke/Pepsi pop syrups and use those instead of the
SodaStream ones. Coke/Pepsi won't sell you syrup direct but there are other
vendors.

------
conradfr
They say they built it in 30 days but I remember an elixir job ad from last
year where they were already hinting at selling directly to consumers.

Found it: [https://www.pepsicojobs.com/main/jobs/206608BR?lang=en-
us](https://www.pepsicojobs.com/main/jobs/206608BR?lang=en-us)

------
axaxs
Keep in mind, PepsiCo is huge, and not just 'Pepsi' as its name makes one
think. They own or are affiliated with a large portion of your typical drink,
snack, breakfast, and juice aisles of the grocery store.

------
fanatic2pope
That reminds me of when I was a kid in Ontario and we had pop delivered in
refillable glass bottles the way other people had milk delivered.

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crazygringo
> _"...developed from concept to execution in less than 30 days..."_

I can believe that for a website, but I _can 't_ believe that about logistics.
How is the site's stock being supplied by PepsiCo? Where is it being
warehoused? Who's handling fulfillment? Who's handling customer service?
Returns?

It goes without saying they must be using a third-party fulfillment center,
but _still_ just to set that up, sign contracts, send first (massive)
shipments to the warehouse, get all the products registered and stocked... is
that possible to do in 30 days for something at the national scale of PepsiCo?

~~~
toast0
With a quick process, I assum they're either outsourcing the whole delivery
portion, or they're reusing their existing distribution network. Their
distribution network may have a lot of excess capacity right now, as many
smaller retail outlets are closed or seeing less sales. If uptake is slow,
they can learn as they go, and then start advertising as things start working.

------
mrfusion
Tangentially I never understood. If a consumer would be willing to buy a few
year supply of a non perishable product, why isn’t there a way they can
purchase at wholesale prices? Assume they’d be buying in the same bulk that a
connivence store would buy for a months supply.

For example, if I have a certain protein bar I ate twice a day. Why can’t I
buy a years supply at wholesale?

~~~
jfim
If you're a Costco member, you can always go to Costco business center [0], it
doesn't require a special membership other than the usual Costco one. It's
where some of the smaller retailers and restaurants (eg. mom and pop gas
stations and convenience stores) shop for individually packaged snacks and
drinks.

[0] [https://www.costco.com/my-life-costco-business-center-
benefi...](https://www.costco.com/my-life-costco-business-center-
benefits.html)

~~~
mrfusion
Is that cheaper than Costco proper?

------
kevindong
I'm curious about the economics of this. It appears that both of the new
websites offer free shipping with fairly low minimum purchases ($15 and ~$30).

The products being offered almost universally cost a lot to ship (by either
being high weight for liquids or high volume for chip bags) while being very
low value.

~~~
CapriciousCptl
My bet is they’re repurposing the delivery vans and light trucks normally used
to restock restaurants, vending machines and like. If they get the route
planning right it’s not so bad but probably gives worse margins than their
grocery store channels.

------
rootusrootus
Not a bad idea. I can think of a couple improvements:

1\. Let me search, I don't want to scroll through a hundred options.

2\. Bring more flavor variety. Hello, ketchup chips!??!

------
GordonS
I read about a large beer brewer doing this recently too, testing the concept
in Brazil first - I think it was AB InBev. I think if makes sense to open a
new sales channel, but it can't be easy for a manufactering org to build the
processes and infrastructure for this - it must be like starting a whole new
company from scratch.

------
gamblor956
Pepsi didn't stop selling to grocery stores. They just started selling
directly to consumers in addition to their existing channels.

Coke has been doing this for years...

------
mc32
Why not work with those home soda machine makers and sell the syrup packages
to end consumers so they have freshly made soda of whatever flavor they order?

~~~
prpl
Tap water quality is generally terrible for carbonation and it would result in
a poor product

~~~
Fezzik
Why is that? I am genuinely curious but did not find any good links. I use
filtered water from a Brita system with my Sodastream and it definitely does
not taste like, or as good as, industrial carbonation. I had always assumed
the limiting factor was the amount of pressure the system can withstand so the
water is not as carbonated.

~~~
def8cefe
The way the syrup mixes with the carbonated water is different in a commercial
pop tower and causes a better mix. I think you're correct about carbonation as
well.

Any time you've had fountain pop it's just been made with straight municipal
tap water.

------
deegles
Any idea how much snacks.com could have sold for? A quick Google search didn't
bring anything up. I'm guessing at least low 7 figures...

------
mrfusion
The main value would be to avoid retail markup and give costumers those
wholesale prices. The article seemed quite in that point.

------
digitalengineer
I get the combination of products around a theme (like ‘breakfast’). But if
you want to sell around breakfast, at least add milk.

------
mark-r
The title implies that Pepsi will stop supplying grocery stores, while the
article makes no such claim. Very misleading.

------
nsl73
PepsiCo products are typically very unhealthy options. Giving consumers more
access to them is bad for public health.

I typically support the free market, but I think most of their products are
addictive and harmful enough to have their costs increased and supply limited
similar to Tobacco and Alcohol products.

~~~
grawprog
[https://www.fastcompany.com/90425011/coca-cola-nestle-and-
pe...](https://www.fastcompany.com/90425011/coca-cola-nestle-and-pepsico-are-
the-worlds-biggest-plastic-polluters-again)

Not to mention they're among the largest plastic polluters in the world next
to Nestle and Coca-Cola.

[https://content.sierraclub.org/evguide/blog/2014/07/how-
much...](https://content.sierraclub.org/evguide/blog/2014/07/how-much-water-
poisoned-produce-barrel-tar-sands-just-ask-pepsi)

------
starpilot
Nothing like Pepsi straight from the cannery. That fresh crack, that sweet
tang, it just hits different from the kind you buy at the store.

~~~
iNate2000
I wish! No straight-up soft drinks available: only “hydration products”...
(must be higher margins)

