Heart Walk at UNCC
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The American Heart Association held its annual American Heart Walk Sept. 18 at Irwin Belk Track and Field Center at UNC
Charlotte. The walk is the national American Heart Association event held in over 1,000 locations nationwide. The Charlotte event was sponsored by Presbyterian Healthcare, Partners National Health Plan, WBTV
and Capstar Radio. The purpose of the walk was to raise money for lifesaving research and education program. This year's event attracted 2,000 walkers and raised more than $150,000..
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Online grocery shopping offers digital alternative
IRVINE, Calif
. The green grocer has gone digital.
As online entrepreneurs open Internet grocery stores in Southern California, they are hoping consumers will eat up the idea of ordering their food via computer. Tired of long supermarket lines and crooked shopping cart wheels? Terry Drayton, president
of the online supermarket HomeGrocer.com, says let the computer do the shopping for you.
"It's a lifestyle solution," he said. "It takes a bit of the drudgery out of grocery shopping."
Drayton's Seattle-based company recently expanded its service to California, joining fellow Internet grocers MrsGreenJeans.com - which sells mostly organic products and
whyrunout.com which also sells film, rents videos and takes dry cleaning orders.
"Just shop online with us and your groceries will be delivered to your kitchen," HomeGrocer.com boasts on its website. Consumers can also specify a time when they'd like the food delivered. HomeGrocer.com which is partly owned by the online mega-retailer Amazon.com - is
possibly the best funded Internet grocer, but still only serves its native Seattle and Portland, Ore. It moved into southern Orange County last week, where its Irvine warehouse serves 33
zip codes from San Clemente to Tustin. It plans to expand to the nation's 25 largest markets by next year.
That is evidence the online grocery industry is growing, said Evie Black Dykema, an analyst
with Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc., which tracks electronic commerce.
Internet grocery sales are expected to jump from $513 million this year to $10.8 billion by 2003, Dykema said.
However, those earnings would be only about two percent of the estimated $450 billion in sales traditional stores are expected to have that year.
"That's a much smaller share than Wal-Mart and Costco will snag (from the grocery stores,)" Dykema said.
Online grocers are trying to accrue about 1 million steady customers and are concentrating efforts in highly populated areas so food can be delivered quickly. Though online grocers are relatively small now, Dykema predicted that by 2003 larger retailers
such as Wal-Mart will take notice of the trend and may decide to purchase online grocery stores rather than compete with them.
Online grocery stores have struggled to find steady customers in recent years because some charged delivery fees or marked up prices to cover the cost of harvesting produce and shipping, Dykema said. To keep costs competitive, HomeGrocer.com and San Francisco-based WebVan.com are selling food out of their own warehouses. However, some shoppers at a Mission Viejo supermarket said they prefer to shop for food by site rather than by keyboard. "I just have to see it, especially when it's fresh produce," said Lalaine Tanaka, 35, of Mission Viejo.
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