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Kraig G. Johnston, President & Founder of Groceries-Express.com and The Vernors Store at Vernors.com
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The idea of Groceries-Express.com was conceived while completing my Bachelor's Degree in Marketing from Walsh College in 1997. This was a magical period in time when the Internet allowed a new world of business opportunities. People of my age were passionately pursuing their dreams of entrepreneurial conquest using the new medium. While most people let their dreams fall by the way side, I never waived from my complete passion and dedication to creating a revolution in grocery shopping. I've only grown more confident over the years that this form of grocery shopping will prove to be a better experience for consumers than traditional outlets. The evolution of The Vernors Store at Vernors.com was our stepping stone into a full-line grocery store. We gained a lot of experience and set up our business while concentrating on a limited amount of Michigan oriented products.
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experience
- eight years, Pepsi-Cola Company
- Merchandiser
- Director of Bulk Delivery for Detroit Market
- Experience working directly in over 150 grocery related outlets
- six years, Information Technology
- Web Developer for the following companies
- Sequoia Diversified Products - now Analysts International
- VSI Holdings - now out of business
- Detroit Diesel Corporation - now part of Chrysler
- REForms Net - maker of ZipForm
- Advertising Audit Service a.k.a. AAS
- GroceryStreet.com
- Technical background specializing in e-commerce applications using
Microsoft technologies. Expert knowledge of ASP, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, IIS administration. I produced all content, coding, backend applications and integration routines for Groceries-Express.com/Vernors.com
- Search engine optimization and marketing - Groceries-Express.com currently holds the #2 listing for keyword "groceries" on Google.com
- Project management - I sought out and utilized Pulse Solutions to assist in creation of graphical components, design and layout for Groceries-Express.com/Vernors.com
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Terry Farida, Owner of Value Center Markets
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The idea of Internet Grocery is obvious. The execution of
the business is the challenge. It's so rewarding to see groceries from
my store being sent all over the world. Grocery operators are always looking
for incremental sales. These new markets I serve through the Internet consist
of customers I never had a chance to service before.
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experience
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Former Emeritus Director Associated Food Dealers of Michigan and former Chairman
- Owner of Value Center Market a three store chain providing exceptional value and outstanding customer service to Metro Detroit
- Closely networked with leaders of similar industries in the Detroit market
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Frederick J. Weih, President & CEO of Harvesting America
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Harvesting America is a fast growing emerging player in the Internet Grocer Industry.
A business concept in development and practice for over a decade is made possible through our
strategic partnership. Groceries-Express.com has worked hard to provide
data/images, backend integration, and fulfillment operations that allow Harvesting America to
focus on our unique "Shoppers Telling Other Shoppers" marketing approach to this industry.
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experience
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over 15 years of experience in developing e-commerce and mail order grocery shopping
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over 100 newspaper articles, studies and industry reports have been written about Mr. Weih's home shopping concepts and working prototypes
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served as President of Celestial Harvest, Harvest America and Executive Vice President of Tapcity.com
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Francis Black, Founder of GroceryStreet.com
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Providing grocery shopping services on the Internet will prove to be
a viable industry for companies executing conservatively formulated
business plans. Kraig and I worked closely to bring GroceryStreet.com to market.
Many successes were realized during our operation, but funding fell short and operations wound down.
I applaud the development of Groceries-Express.com using only profits to expand growth. With no
debts or investors to answer to Groceries-Express.com has unlimited freedom to pursue opportunities
that make sense to consumers and employees instead of investors and stock holders.
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experience
Mrs. Black was a founding partner of one of the first online real estate
companies, National Listing Service Inc.. She has been actively involved in
various Internet businesses since 1992 and has implemented hundreds of strategic
Internet initiatives. For seven years she served as the Manager of Internet
Development for Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company. The work she
performed was aired on NASDAQ commercials for two and a half years and was rated
the best pharmaceutical site by the Dow-Jones business report. She has consulted
with many "dot com" companies defining business strategy, market positioning,
and technology decisions. Most recently prior to founding GroceryStreet, Francie
directed the strategic product development activities for e-Chemicals, a leading
business-to-business e-commerce company.
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Steven Farida, Director of Inventory Management
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Managing inventory for physical retail outlets is an incredible
challenge that goes mostly un-noticed by the general public.
Manufacturers and suppliers are constantly adding and discontinuing
products. From our store inventory of over 40,000 items about 8,000
change every year. Our initial capture of store data to present on
Groceries-Express.com required an investment of 800 labor hours. We
physically scanned and weighed every item with a upc in our outlet over
a five month period.
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experience
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25 years of grocery store inventory management.
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coordination of store setup for 3 grand opening events.
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Plan-o-gram coordination and data analysis to maximize product
movement through existing Value Center Market outlets.
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