LONDON (Reuters): Major consumer companies including Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Nestle are chasing consumers who want food and household goods delivered automatically, even though this kind of business has not always worked.

The companies are pitching new online subscription services, which promise stable revenues, lower delivery costs and valuable data about customers.

The world’s biggest packaged food company, Nestle, whose Nespresso coffee is already a sizeable subscription business, recently launched a subscription programme for nutritional drinks in Japan and expanded ReadyRefresh, an online bottled water service, in the United States.

It also wants to expand the Tails.com subscription pet food from Britain to continental Europe, one of its executives told Reuters. It is testing the service in France for a possible launch this year.

...

Full Article on TheStar