Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

Those are the words that came out of my husband’s mouth on the first day of our recent family vacation. We were on a very long car ride from Vermont to Long Beach Island, New Jersey. The beach commute started on Friday evening and did not end until about 5PM on Saturday. When we arrived at our beach house, our shopping for the week was done.  How did we do it? Online Grocery Shopping!

At around 1PM on Saturday, we jumped off the Garden State Parkway, (Exit 135, to be exact) made a right into the Clark ShopRite parking lot and pulled into our own “Rock Star” parking spot reserved just for OGS shoppers. If I had a stop watch, I estimate the whole shopping experience was less than ten minutes (including the wrong turn out of the parking lot). We jumped back into the bumper-to-bumper traffic to the Shore. For the next hour all we could do is talk about how amazing it was that our grocery shopping was already done.

I doubted my personal shopper; even after she called me to substitute one whole wheat hotdog rolls for another brand, I still doubted her. As we unpacked the groceries, I panicked, “Where are the PINE NUTS? I need the PINE NUTS for the salad! I can’t believe they are not here!” Don’t panic my husband told me, they must be here somewhere. No, they were not. I searched through all the bags and there were no nuts. Perhaps, I should check the receipt…no nuts there. Perhaps, I should check my order…oh; I forgot to order the nuts. I didn’t need to doubt my personal shopper, I needed to doubt myself.

After we unpacked our bags and groceries from the car, we headed down to the beach with our kids to enjoy the afternoon surf. Meanwhile, my sister-in-law was running out to the store for her groceries. My husband and I chuckled. She asked me if I needed anything, to which I replied, “just pine nuts!” Two hours later she returned, somewhat drained from her trip, with about eight bags of groceries and my one jar of pine nuts. We were back from the beach by then.  I thanked her for my pine nuts.

My vacation ended when, on the car ride home, my husband reminded me that there was no food in the fridge at home. We decided to avoid the grocery store that night by going out for dinner. But while we are in the car, perhaps now would be a good time to put a list together. List together? I already did that! It is saved to my profile. Can’t I just press a button, place my order and pick up my groceries? If I had OGS in Vermont, the answer would be “YES!” But for now, my vacation is truly over. I think I will wait until tomorrow to go to the store.

On Wednesday, August 5, 2009, Stripes Group completed a $13 million equity investment in MyWebGrocer Inc., a rapidly growing and profitable Colchester, VT‐based software‐as‐a‐service company providing leading regional and national grocery store chains and consumer packaged goods companies with online commerce and digital media services. As part of their unique platform, MyWebGrocer operates the nation’s largest grocery ad network with over 4 million monthly shoppers.

DanMarriott, Managing Partner of Stripes Group, will be joining the MyWebGrocer Board of Directors.

About Stripes Group:

Stripes Group, founded in 2003 and based in New York, is a private investment firm focused on growth stage minority and majority investments in rapidly growing and profitable internet, software‐as‐a‐service, technology‐enabled services and consumer products companies. Stripes Group typically partners with founder‐owned and operated companies that have had no prior institutional investors.  For more information on Stripes Group, visit www.stripesgroup.com.

About MyWebGrocer, Inc.:
MyWebGrocer, founded in 1999 and based in Colchester, VT, is a founder‐owned and managed software‐as‐a‐service company providing online commerce, communications and digital media services to leading grocery store chains and consumer packaged goods companies while also operating the nation’s largest grocery ad network. MyWebGrocer has been profitable nearly since inception and has established itself as the leader in the industry with over 5,000 grocery stores nationwide using their platform and over 60 globally recognized brands, including Kelloggs, Unilever, Nestle and P&G, reaching 4 million monthly shoppers on their industry‐leading grocery ad network.