I recently came across Julie Park’s blog on the new online grocery: AmazonFresh. AmazonFresh is a branch of Amazon.com that gives consumers the opportunity to indulge in the new trend of online grocery shopping. While I agree with Julie on the plethora of benefits one could reap from purchasing groceries with mere clicks of the mouse (e.g. the time-saving, convenient and variety-filled nature of the online store) I thought it would be worthwhile to play the devil’s advocate of online grocery shopping.

First and foremost, my research shows that a colossal con of online grocery shopping is the fact that one can no longer hand-pick their groceries. Online grocery shoppers must wave adieu to the experience of silently knocking on watermelons or doing a comprehensive rotational check on apples, as these practices are replaced by the person responsible for compiling the online order. In other words, online grocers are bound to receive a bad apple or two come delivery day. Other cons include the lag of the couponing process, anti-social nature of the online transaction and last but not least, waiting for the online delivery order itself.

Read Julie’s blog here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/juliejeehyepark/

Explore the pros and cons of online grocery shopping here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/29/online-grocery-shopping_n_1554113.html#s1033618&title=WATCH_Using_Coupons

Photo credit: http://www.sosemarketing.com/2010/11/08/online-grocery-shopping-seems-to-be-getting-bigger-and-specialized/