Business Model for Electronic Commerce - Analysis of Grocery Retailing Industry

Electronic commerce can dramatically alter the current delivery and sales channels, as well as value chains in many industries. Accordingly, consumers will change or supplement their channel preferences with increasing amount of electronic services available. This study focuses on the different types of business models used in the grocery retailing industry, to serve consumers. The empirical part of he analysis is based on a longitudinal analysis of existing EGS’ in 1998 and 1999 in Europe, North America and Pacific Asia. The analysis shows that the majority of the electronic grocery shops are extensions of existing physical stores. There are, however, some signs of interesting new business strategies. These strategies are compared to the theoretical alternatives proposed by the model of Customer Channels and conclusions are drawn regarding the development of electronic commerce in grocery industry.