Final answer:
Early online grocery businesses faced challenges such as lack of customer trust, limited product availability, inefficient delivery logistics, and high prices, which made them uncompetitive against traditional stores. Firms like L.L. Bean succeeded by offering guarantees and building a reputation for quality to overcome the issues related to not seeing and touching products before purchase.
Step-by-step explanation:
Early attempts at the online grocery business were unsuccessful for several reasons. One main challenge was the lack of customer trust in online shopping. In the era when this concept was introduced, many consumers were wary of providing personal and financial information over the internet and were accustomed to the tactile experience of shopping, where they could see and touch products. Another issue was the limited availability of products. Early online grocery services often had a smaller selection than traditional stores, making them less attractive to customers who valued variety or specific brands. Furthermore, inefficient delivery logistics played a significant role; companies struggled to develop cost-effective and reliable delivery systems that could compete with the convenience of local grocery stores. Lastly, high prices, partially due to the logistics costs and smaller scale, made online options less competitive against the traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
Firms like L.L. Bean had more success in direct sales, as they addressed the issue of imperfect information through a robust money-back guarantee and by building a solid reputation for quality, which helped to cultivate customer trust and overcome the limitations of not being able to physically interact with the products.