I am always brainstorming for new business ideas - it drives my wife nuts!!! But I was thinking about the idea of using the new electric cars as delivery vehicles with ads on them advertising the business the business would be delivering groceries, booze and meals from restaraunts to vacation homes in very affluent areas.

Unline the webvan model I would charge a reasonable fee and make a cut on some of the items I would deliver. If you go really high end most of those people do not care about the cost. Any thoughts?

I think the most important factor is distance. If you have to travel a great distance between the store and home you may have problems with perishables and it will reduce your ability to make repeat trips.

I think the trick for you is to get at your target market early. The biggest shopping will be done when they just arrive - you should try to align yourself with a vacation booking agency that is popular in the area and provide their customers a discount if they order before they arrive.

One other thought:

I am not sure that there is much in terms of profit potential with the business otherwise someone would of franchised the concept. It is very manually intensive and getting good inexpensive labor may be difficult in a resort area where alot of the surrounding areas are typically higher end homes which means a long commute for some workers.

I think you ought to try it the initial capital costs are low. One thing you may want to consider buying is a electic vehicle or some other eye catching unique vehicle to help you advertise the business.

If webvan funded with millions of dollars could not make a go of it than I doubt that a small business could. Think about it there is a reason they got rid of the milk man and other than quicker mail things are pretty much the same. By the way Amazon now sells grocery items - another upcoming competitor.

Hi,

You might want to run some numbers for the venture. If the delivery vehicle cost $20,000, you might charge $30 a day for that. Labor might cost $80 a day. You need something for fuel and something for overhead and profit, too. Let's say that all comes to $160 a day. Can you make enough deliveries at say $10 each delivery to make it to $160 or would you need to charge $20? or $25?

Do those figures sound reasonable?

Next you need to do a survey to determine how much a potential customer would be willing to pay. If the number is greater than your proposed prices, then the idea is a go. If the number is less, than the idea is a no go.


Jay