Transforming The Way We Buy Food

Many of us remember trips to the grocery store when we were growing up — riding in the carriage with our parents as they waffled between Cheerios or Wheaties, this brand or that.

Doug in Boone, North Carolina, has similar memories from his childhood, going along with his mother on food shopping trips with his siblings.

Doug called into our show today about Amazon's deal to buy Whole Foods, which is being seen as a jolt to the grocery and retail industries.

He said he was worried that an ever-automating food industry will sever our connection to picking out our own food.

"I don't want FedEx coming and throwing my potato chips and my piece of meat out there on the driveway and peeling out and going down the road," Doug said. "Who's picking this stuff? Are they looking at the whole peach? Who's picking my piece of meat out?"

Rod Sides, a guest on our show and a retail and distribution analyst for Deloitt, said that while many consumers, like Doug, still value the brick-and-mortar experience, some are embracing new ways of shopping.

"What we're finding is that folks are looking for different ways to create those experiences, different ways to connect," he said. "Really the power is in the consumers' hands now to dictate to the industry the ways in which products should be delivered."

"I don't want FedEx coming and throwing my potato chips and my piece of meat out there on the driveway and peeling out and going down the road."

Doug in Boone, North Carolina

Doug, however, says that we're over-automating ourselves by relying so much on delivery services such as Amazon.

"Is our life that busy, are we that important that we have to do this online," he said.

It's still unclear how the future of retail and grocery shopping will shake out, and how much of an effect Amazon will have on the market.

For Sides, there's not much reason for Doug to worry.

"I don't think we're going to see everything go online immediately," Sides said. "If you look at statistics today, depending on the category, still anywhere between 85 and 90 percent of retail still happens in the store. And I think that's going to continue for quite some time."

This segment originally aired during this show.