HOW AMAZILLA SHAKES LOTS OF TREES INCLUDING KING KONG’S

Amazilla’s announcement of the acquisition of Whole Foods has shaken a lot of retail
trees. Not that these brands weren’t planning to launch some of their new delivery
programs, but there have been a lot of announcements lately.

Walmart(King Kong) announced an online ordering, in-store pick up program and
is testing a same day delivery model. Oh and the Mighty Mart kicked Amazilla
products out of it’s stores.

Boxed, an online wholesale club, it will introduce a fresh food delivery service that
will deliver fresh groceries within 3 hours.

Target just acquired a technology-based transportation company, Grand Junction,
which will speed up Target’s ability to deliver goods to their customers, including an
announced expansion of same day delivery.

Target’s approach is interesting. Called Target Restock, they will create a box for you
online that you fill with staples, the non-glamorous stuff. The box can hold up to 45
lbs. If you place your order before 2:00pm, you get it delivered the next day for
$4.99 per box.

Google has conducted a same day delivery test. Google works with retailers like
Costco and Walgreens-and whoa ho, Whole Foods-and creates a unified online
shopping cart. Google will deliver the order primarily by Priuses branded as Google.
The customer pays a $4.95 extra fee per retailer of the goods they select.

Home Depot is moving toward same day delivery. Ebay has moved in that direction.

Delivery is the beating heart of Amazilla’s idea. Now everybody is moving to match
it. Watch the Mighty Mart here because they are the King Kongs of
manufacturer-to-store logistics.

By the way, do you remember looking at your college catalogue of business courses
and thinking “Logistics? What a boring idea. That will appeal only to accountants
and engineers.”

A side note; a rumored attraction of the Whole Foods acquisition was the little
coffee/deli shops in each WF store. Seems the clientele have an eerie resemblance to
the profile of an online shopper. A geo-targeted rewards program perhaps?