News - Order groceries, get them within an hour, from PocketShop UK

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Service debuts today, covering various North London postcodes.

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Read more.

I'm with the author, would far rather have overnight delivery times.

Will be interesting to see if people are prepared to pay the premium.

I've got a supermarket (Sainsbury's) within about 10 minutes walk, and a 24 hour one (Asda) within 10 minutes drive - so there's no way that I'd be prepared to pay the kind of premiums that the article hints at. Oh, and both of those supermarkets are the full sized ones - not one of those corner-shop "Metro" setups.

Needless to say I'm sure that there will those for which this is just a necessity and won't be able to figure how they managed without it. :rolleyes:

Clearly shows where people live that have money to burn...

I'd rather they charged normal prices for the food, and just charge a fee that represented the cost of packing and delivering, but I suspect their sales would probably plummet if people realised how much of a premium they were paying.

I can definitely see the attraction, but as things stand there are shops too close to me for it to ever be necessary - and as things stand, their opening times are much longer as well.

I can't imagine there being a place in London where you can't get to a shop pretty damn fast, even if by foot. I reckon' there'd be much more in this if they delivered alcohol within the hour 24/7... just sayin'.

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Originally Posted by snootyjim

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I can definitely see the attraction, .....

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Each to his own, but I can't.

I do my own shopping, and the only way I'll have it delivered at all, never mind within an hour, is if I end up physically unable to get out to do it myself. Apart from anything else, I do NOT want someone in a warehouse selecting my fruit and veg for me, so I need to go to do that myself anyway. And I'm quite capable of getting my PG Tips and a bottle of ketchup, etc, while I'm there.

Let me put that another way. Not only would I not pay a premium for this, but I'd still do it myself if they actually gave a discount for delivering.

For some people their time is more valuable than the premiums here. Say you are earning £100/hr, a 15 minute round trip to the local shop would have cost you £25. Paying for delivery via an app on your phone works out much better value.

Maybe I'm not imaginative enough, but I genuinely cannot think of a usage case for this that makes any sense. In the areas they're serving it would always be quicker to go and get it yourself, and it will obviously be much cheaper. I actually agree with the earlier comment from meowdance - this would make sense for booze, but for groceries I just can't see it.

I'm sure I'll be proved wrong though...

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Originally Posted by CK_1985

Maybe I'm not imaginative enough, but I genuinely cannot think of a usage case for this that makes any sense. In the areas they're serving it would always be quicker to go and get it yourself, and it will obviously be much cheaper.

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What if your working thou? Last summer I helped pull a mate of out a problem bit of work. This meant us in his flat doing nothing but work for about 3 days solid. Now we didn't need anything like this because he has a wife. Our time is very valuable, far more than the £10 delivery fee, so if it saves us having to pop out and get anything, it is 'cheap'.

However I can't think of when I'd need some groceries because I'm so short of time, that I wouldn't just order a take out anyway.

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Originally Posted by Saracen

Apart from anything else, I do NOT want someone in a warehouse selecting my fruit and veg for me

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They already are!

Have you ever considered trying ocado, you know... For science!

At those prices you would be cheaper just to employ somebody to do your shopping for you ... even in London.

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Originally Posted by Flewis

For some people their time is more valuable than the premiums here. Say you are earning £100/hr, a 15 minute round trip to the local shop would have cost you £25. Paying for delivery via an app on your phone works out much better value.

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You still need to take that 15 minutes or so to browse online and actually place your order - so you are probably not saving much time in the grand scheme of things.

I want a dope'n'pizza delivery service

I reckon this will be out of business within months...

- London isn't short on convenience stores (even if you ignore the scruffy independents) and large supermarkets, many of which have 24 hour availability or at least better than this lot.
- Chances are you can get to one and back quicker than this lot can reach you and even if you have to use a car/bus/tube will still be cheaper than the delivery cost.
- It's just standard brands, nothing special but at the vastly inflated price you'd expect from organic/local produce sellers.
- If by some miracle it is successful Tesco, Sainsburys, Ocado etc will just do it cheaper.

I could maybe see it work for someone like M&S, their higher quality own brands (particularly the ready meals are a leg above the rest) with quick delivery could be a USP and their stores are rarer anyway... it'd be like posh takeaway. I wish they did national delivery as there isn't one near where I live.