????一切似乎如此簡單：在網上點擊“提交訂單”的按鈕，一棵萵筍、一打雞蛋或是一加侖牛奶就會在24小時內送貨上門了。在這樣的場景背后，蓬勃發展的在線食品快遞市場的工作令人驚訝地細致，保證了易于腐壞的食品能足夠及時地從生產商送到顧客手中，以免讓快遞的物品變質。

????投資者們為Good Eggs、Relay Foods、Farmigo這類初創公司投入了數以百萬的資金，而隨著食品速遞的需求日益增長，沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）和亞馬遜（Amazon）也加入了這場競爭。然而市場調研公司IDC Retail Insights的主任萊斯利?韓德表示，實際上，在食品速遞行業實現盈利和物流管理非常困難。與聯合包裹服務（UPS）運送圖書或耐用品不同，生鮮食品快遞需要選擇最短的線路、進行周密的計劃、采用先進的技術，還要與時間賽跑。

????位于伊利諾伊州斯托克市的在線零售商Peapod為美國東海岸和中西部的24個市場提供次日送達服務，公司首席運營官邁克?布倫南說：“幕后的我們在拼命沖刺。每天都爭分奪秒。跑得越快，貨物就越新鮮。”

????最大的挑戰莫過于溫度。食品袋中的貨物通常需要在不同的溫度下才能保持新鮮。低溫下，香蕉會變成棕色，冷凍食品則必須確保不會融化。同樣，如果遞送過程耗時太長，牛奶也有變質的風險。

????沃爾瑪正在圣何塞和丹佛試著開展在線食品速遞。他們使用特制的Wal-Mart To Go卡車，把當地大型超市的食品直接遞送到顧客手中。卡車分為三塊獨立空間：其中一部分專門存放冷凍食品；另一部分是冷藏區，用于放置生鮮農產品、肉類和乳制品；剩下一部分裝耐用品。如果這家零售業巨頭在全國范圍內開展在線速遞，意味著它擁有獨一無二的優勢：沃爾瑪在美國有4000家門店，美國有三分之二人口可以在五英里之內就能找到其中一家。

????Peapod.com投資建設了高科技倉庫。倉庫內部共有八個氣候區，分別設置了特定的溫度和適度，讓產品能夠更慢地成熟，更久地保持新鮮。草莓、葡萄和瓜類植物被放在一起；西紅柿儲存在更溫暖的溫度下；香蕉與面包待在一塊；而胡椒和四季豆則必須放置在華氏45度（約攝氏7度）的房間內。員工們會根據訂單把貨物裝袋，放入防壓的容器，再裝進溫控提包里。

????第二個任務是物流。配送路線上必須有著足夠的顧客，這樣才能節約汽油成本、遞送時間和行車費用。即便卡車要花上4個小時給25個家庭送貨，也必須保證食物的新鮮。

????位于紐約皇后區的FreshDirect每填都有2,500名員工在辛勤勞作，確保當地的新鮮食品能夠送達紐約州、新澤西州、康涅狄格州、賓夕法尼亞州和特拉華州。員工們會根據實時儀表板來監控貨物是否按時送達；利用實地掃描裝置來跟蹤快遞過程中發生的一切情況；還會定制地圖軟件的模式，從而應對交通、天氣、道路封閉等狀況，指引數百輛卡車的行進路線。FreshDirect共同創始人大衛?麥金納尼說：“我們對快速地將新鮮食品遞送到客戶手中充滿了狂熱。”

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????It all seems so simple: Hit the "place order" button online and get a head of lettuce, a dozen eggs, or a gallon of milk delivered to your doorstep within 24 hours. But behind the scenes, the burgeoning market of online grocery delivery involves a surprisingly delicate dance to ensure that perishable food gets from producer to consumer in just enough time to avoid (quite literally) a spoiled delivery.

????With demand on the rise, giants such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN) are jumping into the fray as investors bet millions on a crop of startups with names like Good Eggs, Relay Foods, and Farmigo. Yet actually turning a profit and managing the logistics of food delivery is tricky, says Leslie Hand, a director at IDC Retail Insights, a market research firm. Unlike shipping books or durable products via UPS, fresh food delivery requires specific short routing, planning, technology, and a race against the clock.

????"We're sprinting hard behind the scenes," says Mike Brennan, chief operating officer of Peapod, an online grocer in Stokie, Ill. that offers next-day deliveries in 24 East Coast and Midwest markets. "It's a race every day. The faster you go, the fresher it is."

????Challenge No. 1 is temperature. A mixed bag of groceries usually includes food that needs different temperatures to stay fresh. Bananas turn brown when they're cold, yet frozen food mustn't melt. Similarly, milk can risk spoiling if a trek to a customer's home takes too long.

????Wal-Mart, which is testing online food delivery in San Jose and Denver, ships food directly from local superstores to customers using special Wal-Mart To Go trucks. They have three separate sections: one area for frozen food; one refrigerated area for fresh produce, meat, and dairy; and a third area for durable goods. If the retail giant pursues online deliveries nationwide, it has a unique advantage: Its 4,000 stores are located within five miles of two-thirds of the nation's population.

????Peapod.com invested in high-tech warehouses with eight separate climate zones set to specific temperatures and humidity levels so that produce ripens more slowly and stays fresh longer. Strawberries, grapes, and melons go together; tomatoes hang in warmer temperatures; bananas sit with bread; and peppers and green beans get their own 45-degree room. Workers pack orders in bags, crush-proof containers, and in temperature-controlled totes.

????Task No. 2 is logistics. Delivery routes must include enough customers to ensure a delivery is worth the cost of gas, driver time, and vehicle costs. Food must stay fresh even when a truck takes four hours to stop at 25 homes.

????FreshDirect, based in Queens, has 2,500 employees working each day to ensure that fresh local food gets to customers in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Workers rely on real-time dashboards to monitor on-time deliveries; in-field scanning devices to track every event along the delivery; and customized mapping software models to handle traffic patterns, weather, and street closures to guide hundreds of trucks on the road. "We're maniacal about getting fresh food through to customers fast," says FreshDirect cofounder David McInerney.