COMMUNITY CASH STARTING HOME SHOPPING SERVICE

DENISE ZIMMERMAN

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Community Cash here will launch a home shopping and delivery service this week.

Beginning Jan. 11, the new service will be available to shoppers in nearly all the chain's markets, said Rick Littlejohn 3rd, president. Remaining stores in Newberry and York counties will add the service later this year.

About half of Community Cash's 27 stores will serve as fulfillment points, where staff shop the store for customers. Delivery will be made by Home Shopping Alternatives, Bethesda, Md.

A delivery fee of $4.95 for telephone orders and $3.95 for faxed orders should give the chain's program a competitive edge, said Littlejohn, noting that competitor's programs typically assess delivery fees of $7.95 to $9.95.

He did note, however, that Community Cash's shopping service operates with a more limited delivery window -- 6 to 9 p.m. five days a week -- than other programs covering multiple periods of time seven days a week.

"But if you think about it, [6 to 9 p.m.] is when the typical family wants groceries to be delivered, so simplifying it helps to drop the cost.

"The nice thing about this is, as the market grows, economies of scale should bring that price down even further," he told SN. "We don't expect 1995 to be a big year for home shopping but we believe it is a trend that will grow as we move into the late 1990s."

In another development, Littlejohn noted that Community Cash's new card-based electronic frequent-shopper program was yielding positive results. A seventh store was to be brought on-line with the point-of-sale program last week.

He said the new home shopping service and frequent-shopper program could dovetail nicely, creating cross-promotional opportunities. Progress of the new shopping service will be tracked through the point-of-sale system, for example, and customers placing orders will be invited to join the frequent-shopper program.

Although he declined to detail preliminary results of the frequent-shopper program, Littlejohn did say, "We've moved past the test phase and are committed 100%" to roll it out chainwide.