Never run out of toilet paper again

Do you really “need an Alice” for household shopping?

Alice was a character on a popular TV show called The Brady Bunch.  Alice was the “domestic coordinator” that had an uncanny ability to run a household with 8 kids.  Now, there is a new web site Alice.com.  It is betting that “everyone needs an Alice,” as a personal shopper to help coordinate purchases of household commodities online.  Do you really want to buy your toilet paper online and have it shipped to your door?

Clever name … Interesting Business Model

The first key to web success is a clever, memorable domain name.  Alice is a very well known name with some brand cache for US consumers who grew up watching sitcoms.  Alice was the housekeeper on The Brady Bunch saving the day, dispensing wisdom and managing a crazy household like many parents aspire to.  Ok, it was television.  But, who knew that Alice.com was available as a domain name?  Good choice!

With “Alice” (let’s be personal and drop .com), the appeal for consumers is competitive pricing, coupons, AND free shipping.  To do that, Alice allows manufacturers to set their own prices.  Alice also requires that manufacturers pay the site to handle logistics, including the free shipping.  Alice makes money by selling ads, intelligence on consumer spending, and distributing samples for vendors. 

Why it might succeed – Appeal for CPG Vendors

Consumers will readily go to research and make purchases online for “significant” items like MP3 players, cameras and even computers or TVs.  It is simply not practical to go to each CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) vendor site and search for different brands or deals on commodities like soap, tooth paste or toilet paper.

Alice seems to have perfect timing.  In this economy, consumers are searching for savings, and trading down from major brands to cheaper house brands at Walmart and the club stores.  Many CPG brands are seeing the potential benefits of selling products through Alice:

1.     Ability to set their own prices … “real time”

2.     Reduce expensive retail ad and promotion costs

3.     Increase ability to promote their brands and identity

4.     Promote and test new products … especially “green”

5.     Pool costs of shipping, so consumer can receive total purchase basket shipped free to their home

Challenges of online retailing

The challenges of online retailing are complex.  Simply put, “Retail is Detail”.  There are just as many “devils in the details” for online retailing.   Just ask Amazon about the infrastructure, processes and systems required to be profitable a wide assortment of items.

There have been many less than spectacular attempts to sell commodities online.  “Peapod” and others have tried selling groceries online in major US markets.  Alice is starting with the fundamentals most consumers need, and avoiding risky fresh and perishable foods.

US consumers are use to driving the cars and SUVs to “Wally World” to stock up on what they need at good prices.  To succeed, Alice first has to meet and beat the EDLP price benchmarks set by Walmart and others.  While Alice currently has more than 6000 household items for sale at launch, it must maintain or exceed the assortments of the big box mass merchant retailers that offer both key brands and their own house brands.

What differentiates Alice – What are the success factors?

Alice.com was founded by Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire.  This is not their first startup or web based venture.  They started Jellyfish.com, which was purchased by Microsoft and morphed into Bing Cashback, where consumers can save money across online purchases. 

Differentiate or Die!  We have referenced this “Law of the Retail Jungle” many times … and it applies to online retailing as much, or more than bricks and mortar retailing.  So beyond the pre-requisites of competitive prices and free shipping, what differentiates Alice?

“Everyone needs an Alice” serves as good tag line and synopsis of Alice’s value proposition.   Alice is based on the concept of being your “personal assistant” than helps manage the household.   The founders compare Alice to being “like Netflix”, which helps remind shoppers to reorder.  Alice also has social networking components - like Amazon where consumers can review products, and Facebook network components where they can share experiences and what they purchase.

Back-story – Power of the Alpha Moms and Mommy Bloggers

Marketers are paying increasing attention to “alpha moms,” who become powerful advocates for products and sites.  Many of these advocates are also prolific “mommy bloggers” who become conduits for viral marketing to moms and women who are the CPOs – Chief Procurement Officers for the home.

As Alice.com formally launches, it has been the rage on many of the female blogs these past few weeks.  Just take a  look at this recent post from www.5minutesforMom.com.   You cannot buy better advertising for reaching Alice’s core target market:

I am beyond impressed with Alice.com. It’s ingenious, it really is. And really, doing my shopping with a few mouse clicks, beats emergency trips to the grocery store, hands down. Thanks to Alice, I will never run out of toilet paper again.

Ok, people get paid to post some blogs.  But, Alice.com is popping up on a host of blogs and web sites … that’s how it ended up in this blog!

Will Alice.com crack the code for on-line consumables?

The most powerful word in the English language is FREE.  It is free to setup an Alice.com account.  Shipping for six items or more is free to your house.  Do you really want to make an emergency run to the store for toilet paper?   Maybe you need Alice … go to Alice.com and see if she delivers what you need at competitive prices.

Comments

[Chris Petersen]

At IMS we are always intrigued with new retail models, especially on the internet. Alice.com certainly does not lack competition in perhaps the most competitive of categories (packaged goods). We will look forward to watching whether Alice's value proposition catches on as consumer behavior continues to evolve in this economy.
Thanks for you comment.

[Rebecca]

Thanks so much for the kind review - we appreciate it!