Two years after partnering with Cordelia Software and Design LLC to implement their Cloud Co-op platform for online ordering, they are shutting their doors. The Cloud Co-op interface will go offline September 1, 2022.
Cloud Co-op was formed early in the pandemic to provide an online ordering platform for Moscow Food Co-op in Idaho. The system was adopted by several other health food stores around the country, like Chatham Marketplace, and was a solution for providing a reasonably modern interface that allowed for online payment and, most importantly, was affordable for the store with no start-up fees and only pay-for-use – no fixed monthly fees. While it would be nice to upgrade to a platform like Instacart or Mercado, at this time, our store simply can’t justify the capital expense for the start-up as well as on-going maintenance fees of these systems given the low demand for online orders at our store.
As of the June 2022, in the last 90 days, Chatham Marketplace has received 39 orders totaling $4,450 from 10 users – that’s about $50 per day on average – roughly 0.7% of our average daily sales. Furthermore, only two of those customers accounted for 78% of the total purchases.
We are committed to continue supporting our owners and community members that require a online grocery shopping experience. We are going back to more basic form entry through our website and payment will be taken over the phone for orders. While it isn’t the fancy interface many folks are used to at big box stores, we think this will be a workable solution for you and our co-op.
