Ask HN: Talk to your users. What is your opinion on an Online Farmers Market?
No synthesized answer yet. Check the discussion below.
That’d be my first thought as a customer.
Given we currently have a rumbling “honey” scandal in the UK.
This is an issue a lot of retailers have tbh, it’s why the scandal w/honey came to mind since it was in the press again recently.
Good luck though, it’s an interesting idea, we use our local farmers market occasionally and some of the stuff (ironically honey is a good example) is incredible.
> Among some concerns from non-customers is: not being able to touch/see/feel the produce in person.
This is the primary reason why. Another reason is that I buy produce basically on an as-needed basis, so ordering and waiting for delivery wouldn't really work well for me. All that said, in my area the farmers already have pretty good internet presences. Introducing a third party into the whole exchange seems like it would just add additional overhead and distance without bringing much in the way of real value.
Maybe, if I lived somewhere where it was more difficult to go to a farmer's market, this would be something of interest to me, though.
I know it is different with food, but what are some things that would make you- as we would consider our hard-side - to even consider trying?
If I buy something sight unseen from Amazon, I can return it if it wasn't exactly what I wanted. With produce, even if I could actually return it, there's no way it's getting resold, so it's instant food waste. So I feel that it's inherently unreturnable. Also, it would mean that I'd likely have to make an unplanned trip to the store to buy a replacement, or do without, for the meal I was planning to use it in.
It all seems like a bunch of potential inconvenience and bother that can be easily avoided by just going to the market.
I don't want to sound negative about the idea despite all of this -- this is very specific to my own situation and location. Most of the world lives differently than I do (that's true of all of us.) I could see it working, at least in some markets. And there are food deserts that could be excellently served by something like this, especially if there's a delivery component.
I really appreciate your input!