I've considered your shopping behavior points and feel like people may actually buy even more since it would be easier to browse the entire selection of SKUs so they would more likely do so each visit. Or, at least, see more of them than they would otherwise as I think most people don't traverse every aisle on each visit in the status quo setup. Stores know this now already and do things like put milk in the back since it's a frequent purchase and you'll buy more if you have to walk by more to get to it. A customer that just runs in for milk still is only seeing an aisle or two of product when they could walk by the majority of store's items on that same aisle if it was a condensed selection.
On the Home delivery point. You're right free home delivery and narrow margins don't mesh. Yet, I have FREE home delivery options at dozens of stores/grocers in my area. I've never seen what I'd call hefty fees for this service. It's usually in the $1-10 range. They really compete for customers with this option; in my area anyway. Also, they push curbside pickup really hard now and it's always free. I've never seen that have a fee, yet someone in the store is being paid to walk around and pick your order off the shelves. We're paying for it somehow and this trend really took off during the same time as inflation ratcheted up, so my guess is it's being baked into prices and every customer is sharing the cost. In any case, I don't see why the in store shopping process couldn't be improved while home delivery coexisted. They each have their place and each customer has their preferences. Using myself as an example again, I do like pickup when it helps the logistics of my day or if I know exactly what I need and maybe I know it's heavy and want to be lazy.
On the Home delivery point. You're right free home delivery and narrow margins don't mesh. Yet, I have FREE home delivery options at dozens of stores/grocers in my area. I've never seen what I'd call hefty fees for this service. It's usually in the $1-10 range. They really compete for customers with this option; in my area anyway. Also, they push curbside pickup really hard now and it's always free. I've never seen that have a fee, yet someone in the store is being paid to walk around and pick your order off the shelves. We're paying for it somehow and this trend really took off during the same time as inflation ratcheted up, so my guess is it's being baked into prices and every customer is sharing the cost. In any case, I don't see why the in store shopping process couldn't be improved while home delivery coexisted. They each have their place and each customer has their preferences. Using myself as an example again, I do like pickup when it helps the logistics of my day or if I know exactly what I need and maybe I know it's heavy and want to be lazy.