

Aisle50 (YC S11) is Group Buying for Groceries. - Gaussian
http://mashable.com/2011/08/18/aisle50/

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jwegan
I'm not sure I see the business opportunity here. For one, the Groupon
business model has been universally panned here on HN. Furthermore, the
grocery business is a notoriously low margin business (both for the stores and
the brands). Even for the higher margin items in a grocery store, very few
items are really unique. Most products in the grocery store compete either on
branding or on price. Since group buying appeals to the price conscious
consumers, the are unlikely to remain loyal when they have to buy your product
at normal price.

Finally, coupons for items you buy in the grocery store are wide spread and
been around for decades. One of the revolutions of Groupon was being a coupon
distribution channel to get coupons to places you normally wouldn't.

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derrida
I am currently part of a scheme to buy groceries wholesale with 38 people. I
eat for a week for $30. We are expanding, it is all voluntary. There is a
potential here for a startup that simply wants to connect people to partake in
such a scheme. I have found people knowing about it is sufficient for
participation.

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hugh3
_We are expanding, it is all voluntary_

I'm glad you mentioned it was voluntary. You had me worried there for a
moment.

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pagekalisedown
I think he meant that they're not being paid.

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derrida
Yep.

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smiler
The best way to save money on your groceries is to write a list before you go
and then only buy from that list. My wife and I plan our meals for the week,
write the list of what ingredients we need and then we only buy what's on the
list.

I will only go off-list if there are items on offer which I would normally buy
anyway, but it makes sense to do. In the UK, we have plenty of 'Buy one, get
one free' or '3 for 2' offers. So for example if toilet roll, sauces, pasta or
rice have a good offer on, I will buy them, saves a bit of money and saves
buying next time.

Write a list and only buy the list. It will save time and money

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prawn
I can't see the deal without subscribing (and it's not available in my
country, so I won't subscribe to wreck their data purity) but from the price
described, I'm assuming it's one product?

I read (<http://m.news.com.au/ITNewsTopStories/pg/0/fi792074.htm>) that a
major retailer here in Australia was investing in their own online business
based predominantly around bulk purchases of non-perishables (soap, detergent,
toothpaste, etc). However now visiting what I think is the site in question
(<http://www.harveynormanbigbuys.com.au>) shows too many options and a lot of
junk.

I still think a site doing only household non-perishables at a significant
discount would fare well.

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aaronbrethorst
Super-duper smart idea. Who's going to go to the supermarket for just a $3 tub
of yogurt? Supermarkets use loss leaders to get customers in the door all the
time. This gives them better reach and awesome analytics.

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sgrove
Well, that, and they come to me in a beautiful way. The grocery weekly is
alright, but it places a lot of the burden on me - so many choices, and
prices, I have no idea what the real "good deal" is.

One of the ingenius parts of this approach is that I don't have to _choose_.
Every day it rocks up in my inbox, 60% of, I can make a quick decision.

That, along with integrating with the loyalty cards (just like the article
said, these guys are brilliant), is going to be super attractive to busy
people looking to save time and money.

Sign me up.

~~~
hugh3
I'm still not 100% sure on the point. So I get an email once a day offering me
a random discount on a random product. I have to decide whether I want to buy
that product. And then, when it comes time to do my weekly grocery shopping I
have to remember all the products which I've already signed up for and collect
'em all.

This seems to have saved me a little bit of money at the cost of a bunch of
mental effort.

edit: Mind you I've never been persuaded to use Groupon either, so maybe it's
just me.

