This is a new retail concept that has just appeared in France. It has been launched by Auchan, and is called Auchan Drive. The concept is basic, and I am surprise it has not been developed in the US: You order your grocery shopping online, you set a pick up date and time, and you go to the drive thru to get your food.And it seems to work... What I have been also a little bit surprised, is the reason why people like the concept. Indeed, prices with this drive thru system is exactly the same than the regular supermarket. However, people believe they are saving money, because they are not distracted by the different sales and promotions that are in the store. That means that actually they are not really saving money, but that they are so afraid to get tempted to buy other products that they spend less.
It is actually pretty true, as the large amount of references in a supermarket might be the cause of waste of time and stress due to the complexity of the decision making process for every day life products.
Also, I don't believe it makes the shopping process any faster, as ordering online so many items could be pretty long.
I think also it is strange that retailers want to develop such a concept. Indeed, it requires a lot of employees to pack up the groceries into the customer's kart. Also, one of the key idea of category management is to sell additional products to get better margins. By doing that, they therefore on purpose get rid of one of their tool to increase sales.
Also, one more thing: Why in the US, the country which is specialist in drive-thrus, the concept has not become popular? I would like someone to explain me why.
And you, what do you think? Is this a good idea? What is for sure is that the concept is innovative, original, and time will bring answers to my concerns.
