Jet.com Fresh Delivery: Strong Value, Little Reason to Reuse
Jet.com's delivery service for fresh food strongly appeals to consumers, but their chances of reusing it leave something to be desired, according to new research from Field Agent, a Fayetteville, Ark.-based market research firm.
The qualitative and exploratory report – which seeks to understand the in-the-moment experiences of 21 people who use the Hoboken, N.J.-based, Walmart-owned service – shows that, for the most part, customers of Jet's fresh delivery find a value proposition in the service, with ratings and qualitative responses hinting at the service as being convenient, fast, fresh, accurate and easy to use, with one or two exceptions overall. For instance, 76 percent rated the availability of specific items good or very good, while 86 percent and 81 percent said the same about locating specific items and website navigability, respectively.
“It's easy to use,” one respondent said. “The website is so easy to navigate; your order is done quickly. I like how everything is packed so well that even if I wasn't home, it would have lasted four hours until I arrived.” One other respondent reported that, to her delight, her order arrived a day early.
However, participants' intentions to repeat use of the service were somewhat lackluster: 37 percent said they'd completely or very likely use it again, while 37 percent were only moderately likely to reuse it, and 26 percent were not very or at all likely.
Similarly, while 12 users used only positive words – such as “convenient,” “quality,” “fast” and “fresh” – nine used at least one negative word, showing that amid the positivity, there appear to be some negative feelings that could hinder reuse of the service. For the most part, the negative word associations correlated with what some users – never the majority – said they didn't like elsewhere in the study: the amount of packaging materials, the quality/freshness of produce, and the fees associated with using the service, said Chris Medenwald, Ph.D., marketing manager at Field Agent.
“I disliked … the amount of packaging,” one user said. “I cringe for the environment at the amount of packaging used.” Another complained that shipping costs and cold packaging got “pricey” for orders under $50.
Where to Act
“It would take more study and analysis to conclude this outright, but Jet Fresh may be able to strengthen repeat intentions by focusing on these three areas: quality/freshness, fees and costs, and packaging materials – particularly the amount of them,” Medenwald said.
In the end, the research on the Jet fresh-delivery experience – as well as other recent research on AmazonFresh – corroborated what Field Agent has found in other research it has conducted on digital grocery shopping, Medenwald noted. For instance, quality and freshness clearly are of utmost concern to shoppers considering purchasing groceries online, and a holdup for many. Additionally, customers also are deeply concerned about the usage costs and delivery fees with using such services.
“And therein is the challenge retailers have to consider,” he concluded. “Customers want fresh produce, but they also don't want excessive amounts of packaging. They want high-quality produce, but they don't want high delivery fees.”
Other recent research from Field Agent revealed that among the four main services offering grocery delivery – AmazonFresh, Jet.com, Walmart.com and Target.com – Walmart.com actually scored highest for fresh, while Jet.com scored highest for packaged goods, among users of each service. The synergy between the two brands – which came together last summer after the former acquired the latter – could help them hold their ground in grocery ecommerce.