Food & Grocery Best Posts in Thread: Do you think an online grocery shop will be viable in Negros Island?

I added a storefront to DI's web-server with groceries in mind but backed off because it was only foreigners interested and everyone wanted those hard to find products. Too hard to keep inventory on those products and without any interest shown from locals (if it's not on Facebook it doesn't exist to locals) then it was completely pointless. Also, accepting online payment is just downright dangerous in the Philippines...far too much credit card/PayPal fraud in this country (I sold mobile load on a different website in the past and about 9 out of 10 attempted transactions were fraudulent. I would have needed a full time employee just to verify transactions coming in.). I personally wouldn't start a business here that mainly caters to the expat crowd, many (not all) complain to much (expecting service and quality like they get in the West), hold a grudge, talk mad sh*t about businesses to anyone willing to listen at the pubs and think the customer is always right.

If you are thinking of relying on PayPal or other plug-n-play checkout options you need to be very careful. PayPal always initially takes the customer's side, will place your transaction and/or account on hold when a transaction is contested (while still allowing more transactions/money to come in to the account...which you will not be able to touch/spend either) and it is on you to prove that you actually sent the person the product (and unless you are using certified mail to ship the goods that is impossible to prove to PayPal)....but if the customer used a stolen PayPal account you are just SOL and you can count it as a loss. Get enough people making fraudulent transactions and PayPal will lock/close your account permanently (while taking all the money in the account) with absolutely no way to contest that decision without taking them to court....and good luck with that. Sell anything to someone that has been blacklisted from any of the PayPal services and you will be forever questioned and have your account randomly locked and be asked time and time again about why you sold something to that person and what your relationship was to that customer even if you had no knowledge of them being blacklisted (I'm going through this right now with PayPal). Google used to have a checkout option as well and they played a very similar game as PayPal did except they basically had zero customer service available to their users. These types of companies are not banks and do not have to follow any of the banking laws. They can pretty much do as they wish and the only way to contest their decisions is to take them to court. Developing your own payment system will cost a ton of money and you will need some very intelligent IT guys to constantly update that software and keep an eye out for hackers looking for vulnerabilities.

Facebook did just add a "marketplace" (very similar to Craigslist) to their website so if there was anywhere that would be capable of appealing to locals that would be the place to do it, depending on payment options made available. I suspect it won't last long though as it will be flooded with scams and prostitutes in a matter of months. Just my 2 cents.

To the OP's original question:
I answered "Maybe" on the poll. Personally, I would be an frequent customer of an online grocery store only if the products were the same price as the sari2x store just down the road from me (which is generally marked up from the grocery stores)...I would, of course, factor in my fuel/transportation/helper costs. You'd basically have to be selling products at the same price as local mom-n-pop stores and just adding a delivery charge.

One thing I would be VERY interested in would be a "Blue Apron" type of service. You package the exact ingredients for a specific meal (preferably somewhat healthy) with instructions on how to cook it in a box, ship it, then I cook it. As a single guy without a helper (and not a very good cook) I would absolutely love this type of service and I would pay for a monthly subscription that provided one or two meals a day. This could be rather dangerous though as some people have unrealistically high standards or tend to be picky eaters.

That would turn your proposed website into something that's just providing products with delivery (which pretty much any local could do cheaper than you'd be willing to) to an actual service that has some value that takes a bit of thought and talent (which not many locals can do).