Remember creative destruction? One thing a recession is good for is giving the wheel of business development another kick. The launch this week of Alice.com, an online delivery service in the US backed by some of the largest manufacturers of consumer goods, may represent the latest disruptive blow to existing retailing models.

Once it was efficient for local stores to deliver groceries around a neighbourhood. But as Wal-Mart and its competitors and imitators developed, sitting outside towns and having customers visit for regular large shopping trips turned out to be a cheaper alternative. The next spin aims to take that efficient approach another step and deliver dry goods – detergents, nappies, deodorants and the like – nationally to doorsteps for free via the trucks of courier service UPS.