Student Run Delivery Service

They shop, then drop
Students offer buying, delivery service
By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter

TOO BUMMED to shop? We’ll do the drop" is the abbreviated business plan of Store-To-Door, an online grocery buying and delivery service developed by two Dalhousie University commerce students.

"We’ve been working on it since the beginning of July," said Alexandra Barkin, 19, a third-year commerce student majoring in accounting who formed the business as a co-op work term project with classmate Gillian Hull, 20, who is majoring in marketing.

"It’s a great learning experience."

The two Toronto-area natives are targeting the service to Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s University students living on the peninsula.

Since its launch on Sept. 10 after a promotional blitz featuring young women on in-line skates handing out Store-to-Door fliers at Dalhousie, the business has signed up about 40 customers and made about 15 deliveries.

"It’s actually been pretty close to what we expected," said Ms. Barkin.
Store-to-Door delivers a range of products — everything from meat and vegetables to frozen foods and toiletries — that are sourced from Superstore, Costco and Walmart in the Bayers Lake Business Park.

Delivery charges vary according to the size of an order, ranging from $3.95 to $9.95. Orders are done online and payments are made by credit card through PayPal, a guaranteed online payment service.

"Our markup depends on the product, but we try to keep prices on par with Superstore with a small premium for our service," said Ms. Barkin.
She estimated the business, which is offering free delivery on orders over $100 in September as a special promotion, could make $10,000 in the next four months if it signs 500 to 600 customers.

Ms. Barkin said she and Ms. Hull got the idea for the service after observing large numbers of university students calling taxis to haul their groceries home.

"Our delivery charges are about the same (as taxi fares)," she said, adding that while Pete’s Frootique offers a similar, more expensive service, theirs is the only one she’s aware of that focuses on Halifax’s large university student population.

Ms. Barkin said she and Ms. Hull have never run their own businesses before, but they did a lot of research and found that the online grocery shopping and delivery concept is popular elsewhere in Canada.

"In most provinces in Canada, it’s a big business," she said.

Their market research found that 77 per cent of students, if made aware of the service, would consider using it.

Ms. Barkin said the partners kept a lid on their startup costs, which included investments in web design and food coolers, by utilizing the expertise of her father, who is a chartered accountant, and Ms. Hull’s father, who is in the insurance business.

The business has one vehicle to make deliveries, but Ms. Barkin said she and Ms. Hull might have to lease another vehicle and add staff and storage space if the service continues to grow when they return to classes after their work term ends.

"We won’t do deliveries when we’re in school after the co-op term," she said.
"If it’s doing well, we’ll have others do it for us."
( berskine@herald.ca)

JOEY WEDNESDAY: This article was taken from the Chronicle Herald at http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1143761.html