Knowledge@wharton

Webvan the ambitious online grocer once bragged that it would set a new standard for Internet retailing. As most people now know for all its hubris the company has turned out to be one of the dot-com economy’s most spectacular failures. After burning its way through $1.2 billion in capital it declared bankruptcy in July. Does Webvan’s collapse mean that shoppers dislike buying groceries online? For a part of the answer look across the Atlantic to a Britain-based supermarket chain called Tesco. Its online arm Tesco.com will probably have revenues of $420 million this year. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.