Wal-Mart launches food subscription service

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   Stacie Lposted 12 years ago

   Wal-Mart launches food subscription service
   
   November 14, 2012 9:31 AM ET
   
   By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
   
   NEW YORK (AP) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday will officially launch a mail subscription service, called Goodies, that lets shoppers discover new foods from the comfort of their homes.
   
   For a monthly fee of $7 that includes tax and shipping, customers get a box of five to eight hand-picked, sample-size food items, ranging from organic to ethnic products that are not currently carried on Wal-Mart's shelves. The world's largest retailer began testing the service three months ago and so far has 3,000 subscribers. For November items include pumpkin souffle mix, white cheddar popcorn and dark chocolate-infused Quinoa bars.
   http://money.msn.com/business-news/arti … d=15792932
   Is this feeding into the laziness of the some Walmart shoppers or is it good business? Now we can sit on our duffs and wait for the goodies to be delivered to our house. Maybe diet food is included.

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Looks to me like an advertising ploy to entice people to pay double price for mail order foods they can't find locally and wouldn't try if they could.
      
      Could work well for WalMart, but mostly because they get new customers that they otherwise would never see, not because the shoppers are lazy.

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   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   I think Walmart is also getting people to pay to be product testers rather than the other way around. When they get great feedback on an item, they will then know to carry it in their stores.

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   Southernmapartposted 12 years ago

   Dollar Store has WalMart by the short hairs, imo.  With gas prices high and a Dollar Store within a mile or two, few are driving ten-fifteen miles to WalMart except for special excursions. 
   
   In my area WalMart is advertising where they have not advertised in the past.  WM "leaked" their early-shopper Thanksgiving Black Friday ad to start Thursday night after Thanksgiving dinner. 
   
   My guess is the "subscriber" food program is an effort to get people back into the store after goods they can't buy at Dollar Store.  How is WM stock doing?

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   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   Cheap interesting food delivered to my door?  I'd do it. Why not.

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   movingoutposted 12 years ago

   Let's see here! They sell caskets and urns, so why not food samples? lmao...This company is so money hungry they want you coming into this world, while you're living in this world and the way out of this world. And in the process put small businesses out of business. Not for me!

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   Mighty Momposted 12 years ago

   I agree it sounds like they're using customers to taste test for them.
   Pretty clever.
   If I want to try chocolate-infused Quinoa bars (which I can't imagine will ever happen), I'll do it at COSTCO for FREE.

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