Many customers come to sites to buy, but have difficulty navigating and actually placing an order.
Now they need to focus on these basics. Van Gelder says that should happen in the next three years. She said the lack of a centralized distribution system also didn't help. Peapod, for its part, faces substantial competition from a number of companies, each with a different angle on how the delivery business should be run. Webvan, for example, is spending huge sums to build superautomated warehouses in urban centers to serve its fleet of delivery trucks.