Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against H.E.B and Randalls, it’s just that with the lethal one two punch of Amazon Prime and Amazon Groceries… it seems to only make sense for people to start buying anything that is none perishable online. Granted, you DO have to buy them in bulk, but I believe the savings are well worth it and paper towels don’t exactly go bad. Not mentioning that you don’t have to deal with the crowd and risk getting your car dinged by a flying shopping cart 
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Now the question becomes, can traditional grocery giants survive if all they are able to sell are perishable, fresh foods such as produce, meat and dairy? I don’t have the stats in front of me but I think it’s safe to say they are able to generate a lot more profit from AXE Deodorants and electronic toothbrushes than a pound of onions.
How should traditional grocery stores transform their business model to survive this? In this economic climate people are more willing to sacrifice the “I Want It NOW!” mentality to make their dollar last longer… my feeling is that in order for them to survive they might be forced to shrink their store front to the good o’ days of corner stores and/or incorporate enough online element into their stores (home delivery).
Again, the “I Want It NOW!” mentality in this country could be strong enough that I am just worrying about a whole bunch of nothing…