Behold, Alice.com, an online startup that replenishes your dwindling t.p. supplies with free shipping to boot. Claiming to sell products “20 to 30 percent cheaper” than other “well-known” stores, the Wisconsin-based e-tailer is trying to steal some grocery chain market share and give us all yet another reason to maintain a hermitic lifestyle.

The CEO spoke to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

“We put this platform together for manufacturers to work together in an industrywide effort. They decide what products to list at what prices. We just get our expenses covered and we make money from the advertising,” said Wiegand, the company’s chief executive officer.

Hoping the site would save me some money on the insane amount I pay each month to diaper my two rugrats, I signed up for a free account (took less than a minute) and was disappointed to find Wal-Mart (shut up, it’s cheap and less than a mile from my house) apparently isn’t one of those “well-known” stores Alice refers to on its home page, because it charges $21.23 for Pampers jumbo-packs, more than $2 than what Wal-Mart does.

On the other hand, Alice sells Crest Glide Floss for $2.63, which is comparable, if not cheaper than the price I usually find at Wal-Mart. Alice is also hawking 24-roll packs of Angel Soft toilet paper for $7.47, which is about the same as my Wal-Mart.

Since I’ll still have to go to Wal-Mart for diapers I may as well buy everything else there, too. But it’s nice to know there’s an easy option in case I ever become lazier than I already am.

Madison entrepreneurs go live with Web site marketing consumer staples [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
(Photo: dooleymtv)

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