The truth about grocery shopping online

Grant Carran, owner of on-line fresh produce company Food Direct. Photo / Babiche Martens

People who do their grocery shopping online can be a little defensive.

They offer all manner of excuses, from calendar gridlock to trolley bruises for avoiding a trip to the supermarket. "It's not that I'm lazy. I get my cut-price canned tuna without any argy bargy from other shoppers," said one online-shopper.

But would a dedicated foodie order fresh produce online? Used to being up-close-and-personal with vine-ripened tomatoes, foodies would guffaw at the prospect of plucking them from cyberspace.

They take pride in trekking across town to their favourite butcher and looping back for the organic greens.

But online shopping for specialty goodies makes sense in these cash-strapped, eco-aware times.

Food Direct is the latest online shopping venture, a one-stop hub for fresh meat, produce and gourmet products. No junk food on these virtual shelves, although you will find goose fat.

An energy-efficient, flower-covered van delivers the goodies to your door (if you're in the Auckland area) in oxo-biodegradable plastic bags. And that's seven days a week.

There's nothing new about ordering food online. You can buy pedigree goods from speciality foodie outlets and fresh produce at Woolworths and Foodtown under the Progressive Enterprise banner.

But what sets Food Direct apart from its competitors is the rather bold claim that it's cheaper than supermarkets.

"We've compared 30 of our produce items with those at 20 supermarkets in the Auckland area and we're 10 per cent cheaper," says owner Grant Carran.

So if it's cheaper, surely the quality must suffer?

"It's the next best thing to having a farm on your doorstep. Our suppliers buy direct from local markets and farmers each day so our produce is very fresh."

Launched in December, Food Direct has around 400 products available and the primary suppliers are Meat Cuisine and the Produce Company, who supply some of Auckland's top restaurants.

They promise "100 per cent" New Zealand beef, lamb, port and eco barn-raised chicken. There are also plans to introduce wine and an organic range.

"We're putting high quality fresh produce in arm's-reach of families."

Modelled on the United States-owned Fresh Direct company, Carran is aiming for further price cuts and special promotions as the online community grows.

"Our client base is small but we've had impressive growth in just a few months - 183 per cent increase in sales."

If the Kiwi-owned company aspires to Fresh Direct's business model, then the consumer will be the winner. On its website, the US company claims it has "popular grocery brands for up to 25 per cent less than supermarket prices" and is focused on an "eco-sensible future".

Although Carran has no formal hospitality training, his mother is a graduate of a gourmet cooking school in London and he's an "avid foodie who cooks all the meals at home".

Carran's business credentials are impressive. He has a masters in economics and spent five years living and working in Japan. In New Zealand, he has been involved in top-level business research at university and was company director of a successful IT business.

He talks enthusiastically of changing the food industry with the "Just-in-Time" supply chain model (invented in Japan) and he's developed a software application that "maximises the number of deliveries in an hour and minimises the affects on the environment".

And the new dad seems awfully serious about improving the environment - "we know our bags recycle better than the cornstarch variety".

But in these harsh economic times, the ordinary shopper is more concerned about value for money. So let's consider the humble tomato. Is it really cheaper than a supermarket? A few clicks and yes, tomatoes are $2 a kilo on Food Direct - that's half the price of my local Westmere supermarket.

www.fooddirect.co.nz