Louis Borders, the founder of Borders Book Stores, has raised $30 million from investors funding his ambitious dreams of beating Amazon, Walmart, and others in the suddenly critical business of delivering groceries to American homes
Borders took the business public in 1999, four months before the internet bubble burst. His tale quickly became a cautionary one, a poster-child flameout in an era of epic flameouts. Thesifted through its wreckage in a case study, noting that its capital-intensive business model made it difficult to meet the internet’s scale in the physical world profitably. It also noted a series of execution missteps that contributed to the fall.
Two decades after Webvan went bust, not much had changed. Last year just 3% of the roughly $700 billion that Americans spent on groceries were purchased online, according to Bain & Company. Then came the pandemic. Online sales doubled in the first two weeks of March, according to Adobe Analytics, straining Amazon’ s food delivery service to the breaking point, while stressing other offerings from Instacart, FreshDirect and Peapod, which has been delivering groceries since 1989.
He says his advantage this time around is a higher level of automation, which should allow him to fill online orders at half the expense as competitors. The plan includes a network of at least a hundred, 150,000-square-foot distribution centers that will allow products to be received, stored, picked, packed, transported and delivered without ever being handled by a human worker.
He’s now looking to raise $25 million through a Series A, which would help him build his first facility in San Francisco and start taking orders by 2021. He plans to have a nationwide network built in the next five or so years and is looking to add other types of merchandise, like apparel and toys.
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Inside historic black bookstores' fight for survival against the COVID-19 pandemicOperating in a state of emergency is nothing new for independent black-owned bookstores, which for decades have survived on the margins of the publishing industry. But COVID-19 is posing a new kind of existential threat.
Weiterlesen »
Uber Approaches Grubhub With Takeover Offer(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. has made an offer to acquire Grubhub Inc., in a move that would build out its food-delivery platform even as it shutters parts of its own service abroad, according to people familiar with the matter.The companies are in talks about a deal and could reach an agreement
Weiterlesen »
Uber Reportedly In Talks To Acquire GrubhubI’m a San Francisco-based reporter covering breaking news at Forbes. I’ve previously reported for USA Today, Business Insider, The San Francisco Business Times and San Jose Inside. I studied journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and was an editor at The Daily Orange, the university’s independent student newspaper. Follow me on Twitter rachsandl or shoot me an email rsandlerforbes.com.
Weiterlesen »
'The Office' Cast Surprised Fans By Recreating Jim And Pam's WeddingDreams do come true.
Weiterlesen »