February 12, 2011

Special Report: Mygofer or Mygoof, a concept worth the effort?

By now you've probably heard of mygofer, one of Sears Holdings many concepts and tests. If you haven't, it's in short, a bit of a hybrid type shopping experience. You can order groceries, health & beauty, and general merchandise items online and have them delivered to you or pick them up at select Kmart locations. All you have to do is go to the website, select your Kmart store, pick out the items you want, then go to the store to pick them up. There's also a mobile app that you can order items from in lieu of using the website.

         (Image courtesy of newmarketbuilders.com)

It's a good concept, but I'm afraid the execution is once again flawed. For example, when you're shopping for groceries on mygofer.com, you're limited to picking out whatever that Kmart store you select carries. Unfortunately, most Kmart's have a small selection of groceries. Upon browsing my local Kmart on mygofer.com, you can buy a gallon of milk yet you can't buy a carton of orange juice. Browsing further in the category of frozen foods, all it brings up is a half gallon bottle of prune juice, which is not even a frozen food item. You can see where I'm going here, there's a very limited selection of grocery items that you can order online and get in store.

There's many other catagories that you can chose from to order on the site and pick up in store (electronics, household items, etc.), but that's really no different from ordering on Wal-Mart's website and selecting their site-to-store pickup. The food and grocery catagroies are displayed prominently on mygofer's website and seem to be the main draw of the service, yet it's the part most lacking. I will go a step further and say that if you're close to an actual mygofer store (of which there is only one in existance) or a Kmart Supercenter (not many left in existance) you can chose from a better selection of grocery items. Honestly, what's the point of heavily promoting the service, if only a few places in the US can take full advantage of it?

Another point to make is the website itself is not especially quick or even easy to use. It makes a decent alternative to Wal-Mart site-to-store pick up service. If that's Sears Holdings goal, then why not just integrate the 'order online, pick up in store' service into Kmart.com and Sears.com. Instead of having a whole separate website to shop from. Yes, I understand that Wal-Mart's service won't let you pick up your items within a couple hours of ordering them, like mygofer can. That's definitely a positive, but it's only beneficial in certain situations.


Now let's look at the actual mygofer store locations, which at last check, there was only one. Joliet, IL is the original full fledged mygofer location, born from a converted Kmart building. It's basically a small showroom, with computers to order items, and a drive thru to pick them up. The majority of the building is warehouse space for all the items they sell. The city of Joliet has a webpage all about this location, including several pictures. To me, the actual mygofer store locations are a more innovative and intriguing concept than the mygofer at Kmart pickup service.

So what do you think, is mygofer a concept Sears Holdings should keep testing or do you think it's yet another failure by them?

16 comments:

  1. poor execution makes it difficult to compete with Wal-mart's Site to Store or Amazon or other pure online stores. If consumers comparison shop, price-wise it will be difficult if not impossible to beat the online only retailers whose costs are much lower (computer & robotic-assisted logistically-efficient supply chain & warehouse & packaging & delivery systems) than some place that has to physically maintain a store. (Not to mention the unfair sales tax exemptions that Amazon and others get...) But anyhow, it is a nice, if not low-volume, gesture of thinking by Sears/Kmart. Hopefully they can make something work out of it...
    www.SuperKmart.Blogspot.com

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  2. What is different is the fact that pick-up is INSTANT. You don't wait for the product to be shipped to the store. It's in the store and pick-up is available within 2 hours of ordering, not 7 days.

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  3. That is true, I touched on that a bit in the article. But the fact of the matter is, is there really any benefit to searching and ordering items online and then picking them up in the store an hour later vs. just going to the store and buying the items outright. The benefit to wal-mart site to store service is that you can get many items not carried at your local wal-mart, mygofer instant pickup service is limited to in store items.

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  4. The benefit is that if you have 30 items on your shopping list, you can save a good 20 minutes by using MyGofer (in my opinion). If you're just looking for a gallon of milk, then it doesn't make sense. But, if you're looking for Milk, paper towels, toilet paper, Tide, Cheerios, Kix, Granola Bars, and 20 other items, then MyGofer is a great options.

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  5. The mygofer store model sounds like Service Merchandise...

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  6. The store model definitely bears a strong resemblance to the original Service Merchandise stores. It's an intriguing concept but I'm not sure if the majority of people would be on board with it.

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  7. I think it could work if MyGofer had a better name and a more upscale mix, perhaps offering items normally online (such as the canned "Epicenter Collection"). If we compared it less to Service Merchandise than with IKEA, which still has traces of a catalog showroom, then it would be more successful.

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  8. As a close observer of kmart, it seems like this is the direction the company wants to go. In the future dont be surprised to see kmart expand their grocery section, put in pick-up windows, and open more my-gofer store concepts.

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  9. I think mygofer rocks i use it daily tyvm u haters!

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  10. Interesting outlook but a bit far behind the times. This is a life saver for people like me who have kids and very little time to shop. Your review is old so I will give it that but perhaps you should do a follow up now that the service has grown and is much bigger than your article gives it credit for being. I for one use them once a week and being as I run a large business on ebay, Paying with paypal on mygofer then picking up in the store 2 hours later is AWESOME!!!! You should probably update this...

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  11. The order is rarely shopped before you get there. And watch out for double authorization on your credit or debit card. It will only go through once, but it may hold the money twice. I love KMart, but still have to shop in person until they get the hang of it.

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  12. I've been using Mygofer for nearly a year now and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! If they don't have exactly what I ordered, the store manager even calls to ask if they may replace it with an item of equal value - now THAT's service. They always have it packed and in the cart when I arrive. Our store does not have a drive up, so I do have to wait at the service desk - but it sure beats walking around and dodging other carts. Again, as said before, the only drawback is that pick up is limited to what is in the store, but they ship that, so I'm good! For price comparison, it's not that different than shopping at our more upscale local groceries. I always check my orders before I leave the store and they are always accurate. I love having my own personal "Gofer". Cheryl from Upstate, NY.

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  13. I’ve recently started using mygofer. Home delivery just started in Montgomery County, MD (near DC) and like a lot of really good ideas emanating from Sears Holding, the marketing for this service is awful. That said, the service is really good. I’m one of those people who has very little time, (up before 4, wife’s at work at 5 ) and we have little time for shopping. Mygofer allows for shopping online for groceries, beauty aids, even electronics and clothes and either pickup from K-Mart or for a relatively small annual fee (much less than Peapod or Safeway) delivery to your home. My most recent order included frozen vegetables, fresh fruit, orange juice, milk, fresh salmon, kitty litter shaving cream, electric toothbrush heads, a pair of boys pajamas and panyhose for my wife. I placed my order at 2:00 p.m. and by 7:00 (right after I got home from work) the mygofer delivery took place. The prices on many things are actually cheaper than the local grocery, and the convenience cannot be beat. They will call you before shipment if any of the items in your order cannot be fulfilled. My last order had one mistake, but mygofer was quick to rectify it in an acceptable manner on the spot. Delivery took place within their window without a problem. In fact, mygofer will shop the competition to get your items. For example, a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables are available via mygofer, even though K-Mart doesn’t have much of a produce department. Mygofer also participates in UPromise, with at least 5% of the price of your order being contributed to my son’s 529 plan. Every penny adds up. My family tends to purchase a lot of clothes, mostly from Lands’ End. Now, we can take the SYWR points we earn from our clothing purchases and buy groceries. Talk about stretching dollars!!!

    One other tidbit. SHC (Sears Holding Company) has a tendency to run sales online which often mean that products ordered online will cost less than shopping in the store, even if the item is ultimately picked up in the store (merchandise pickup window for Sears; layaway department in KMart.. In addition, online orders are subject to UPromise contributions. The same cannot be said for in-store purchases.

    I am not a fan of K-Mart. Their interiors are extremely dated and remind of of Woolworths stores from the 1970s when I was a little boy. Someone needs to tell Eddie Lampert (SHC CEO and largest shareholder) that significant investments need to be made in the stores if he wants to keep them viable. Nevertheless, if I can get the benefit of convenience and good prices without having to deal with K-Mart’s dingy interiors, mygofer is a very useful service with beneficial applications for busy families without lots of free time.

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  14. K-mart is going down, down, down.....

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  15. Love mygofer - K-Mart? Not so much. I actually think this service is one of the only positive things their company has done in years. I use this service to take advantage of the lower prices that are offered for certain items when you order them online (even though, as someone else posted, you're coming to the store to purchase these items.) Now that they offer customers a "Pay In Store" option, I can also use any coupons I have for the items I purchased, to get even more savings.

    I share in the sentiments of a previous poster about the look/feel of K-Mart stores, though...very outdated and depressing. How is it that none of the "higher-ups" in this company are aware of this? How can they not be? It's not like this is something that's just happened; their stores have been stuck in a time warp for years now, sadly.

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  16. You place your grocery order online. There is no one to ask questions to. It's just you and the computer. You select your groceries, give them your delivery address, pay and wait for your groceries to be shipped to you.Grocery convenience delivery service gives an opportunity for shopping online without leaving home and you can save your time for $9.99.
    online grocery delivery

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