Project Background
The internet had not yet arrived but interconnected computers were communicating with each other through telephone lines and modems. A popular application know as Bulletin Boards were frequented by individuals who had an interest in the bulletin board subject matter.
Leveraging the newest in technology at the time, a new “Bulletin Board” was started in Cleveland, Ohio in 1986 whose purpose was to connect grocery shopping consumers with a prominent grocery store known as Fisher Fazio’s. In the 1980’s Cleveland was resurging from decades of recession and the downtown was being revitalized with new construction and conversions of old warehouses to apartments. At the time, there was no grocer in the downtown area making grocery shopping inconvenient.
To counter this, a startup business was launched to make it possible to shop “online”. The concept, although very new in terms of technology was the first to contract with Fisher Fazio to deliver their goods from their inventory to the consumer who purchased through the bulletin board. A database was constructed of the groceries sku’s and presented to shoppers in the form of ascii graphics.
There was no way to be found through search back then, so customers were essentially granted access to the bulletin board once contracted with Groceries on the Go for the grocery delivery service.
The company flounder for several years and ultimately closed. Within the next decade, several grocers began delivery services which included shopping online using the internet.
The lesson learned was that creativity and exploitation of technology can be a very good thing, unless the convergence between the consumer and the technology is too immature to be converted into viable customers.
