Wish the online shopping infrastructure in my country was more developed. I live in a country where people are still kinda scared of the online shopping culture.

Though the benefits of online shopping are definitely there. You’ve proved it.

That said, one of the most difficult things to do online is comparison shop. In the store, I can pick up two frozen pizzas and compare their nutritional contents, ingredient lists, preparation directions, and physical size. Safeway seems to do a very good job of providing product info (I clicked a frozen pizza), but it’s still difficult to do comparisons.

We must be lucky. We have three or four large supermarkets, two of which are open 24 hours. I shop at 11PM to avoid all of the people factors you’ve listed (though I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone stealing something from your cart). Prices are well-marked or can be scanned for pricing. Unit prices are all clearly marked next to the regular prices.

Loading/unloading groceries is a drag, especially in winter. I’ll grant you that. Otherwise, I just don’t see the argument against your local grocer.

One negative to online shopping though: You can’t always check the labels. I’m not even talking about for health/fat type of content. But the actual ingredients themselves. Our son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts so we spend a lot of time at the supermarket just reading through insanely long lists of ingredients. Some online stores let you scour a label for certain products but not all. Still, for regular staples, we’re pretty safe getting stuff online.

I agree with most of your pros and cons.

However, I have still decided to stop on-line grocery shopping at least for now and stick to my local Associated Supermarket. It is about six blocks from my apartment in Manhattan and I have to walk there b/c I don’t own a car. So, it is way less convenient that FD.

However, when I shop at Associated, I spend WAY less money. It is much cheaper and I can only buy what I can drag back to my apt (i use a small-mid sized rolling bag to transport my groceries). If I do have to stock up on more, they will deliver for free (I add a $5 tip).

Also, no matter how disciplined I want to be, I always spend more money on FD because I tend to buy more prepared or “gourmet” foods. Associated is so basic it does not really have gourmet food. If I want something fancy, I have to make it myself from scratch.

My grocery bill went down DRASTICALLY when I stopped buying FD and started shopping at Associated.

However, one advantage I think is worth mentioning is that I sometimes stand in the grocery aisle wondering, “I know I finished the last of the cheese this morning, but do I have another package in the fridge, or should I buy more?” Shopping online, I could walk to the fridge and say, “Ah, yes, I need to buy more cheese.”