By Pengfei Ji, Kim Dodds, and Xuchen Yao
Outline
- Introduction
- Pickup & Delivery Facts for Grocery Stores
- Ranking and Recommendation
During COVID-19, more and more shoppers are opting for grocery pick up and delivery as a way to keep themselves and others safe. According to Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Survey, in June 2020, 45 million consumers made 85 million orders with a total spend of 7.2 billion dollars. COVID-19 is effectively shaping consumer behavior in terms of online shopping and avoiding visiting physical stores.
But what if the grocery stores you regularly shop at don’t offer good pickup or delivery service? While most consumers are irked by the high delivery fees commonly seen from food delivery services, few have compared the fees associated with the delivery and pickup of groceries. According to our study, grocery delivery fees can be as high as $9.95 and pickup fees $4.95!
Is cost the only factor consumers care about? Not entirely. According to The Post-COVID-19 Agenda for Technology and Media Companies by Activate Consulting, the top 3 factors consumers care the most about are:
- Free delivery
- Website user experience
- Same-day delivery
Based on these considerations, in July 2020 we surveyed current Pickup/ Delivery time and cost for popular grocery stores and provided recommendations on which stores will suit your needs during COVID-19. The question we want to answer is: which grocery store provides the best value in terms of cost and speed for consumers?
How We Selected Grocery Stores
The criteria we followed to survey grocery stores are: big in revenue and representative in geographical distribution. In terms of revenue, the following is a ranking of top 10 grocery chains in the US:
Geographically, they cover the majority of all US states:
Pickup & Delivery Facts for Grocery Stores
Walmart
- There is a $30 minimum purchase for all Walmart Grocery orders and pickup is always free
- The Walmart grocery app lets you shop virtually and schedule a pickup at a local store
- During checkout, customers choose a designated store to visit and select a timeslot to pick up their orders
- Free pickup. Same-day pickup is available, at least 3 hours in advance. Ex: orders placed by 2 a.m. will be available for pickup from 8 a.m. and orders placed by 10 a.m. will be available from 1 p.m
- Pickups can be scheduled 7 days a week, up to 3 weeks in advance
QFC
- Free curbside pickup
- Starting March 23, QFC is temporarily waiving their pickup service fee nationwide (a value of $4.95), with no minimum order threshold
- Same-day pickup is available, at least 5 hours in advance
- Pickups can be scheduled 7 days in advance
- No-contact delivery option, low-contact pickup service and ship-to-home offering for pantry essentials
- Delivery is powered by third party delivery partners
- How to pick up: Pull up to the specially marked parking spots at your scheduled time, then call the number on the sign. QFC will bring your groceries out to your vehicle, and you’ll be on your way!
Safeway
- Order on the website or mobile app
- Order pickup is available in select locations in as little as 3 hours after checking out
- Park your vehicle in a designated Drive Up & Go parking spot and call the phone number on the designated sign. A Safeway employee will bring your groceries to your car and load them on your behalf
- No pickup fee, the subtotal of all items at checkout must be at least $30
- Safeway offers same-day grocery delivery 7 days a week between 8 AM and 10 PM local time, in most locations. The regular business delivery fee in most areas is $14.95. The delivery fee may be reduced if your purchase is $150 or more
- Delivery time as little as one hour depends on your location. Rush delivery uses Instacart, regular delivery uses Safeway employees to deliver
Giant Food
- Order on the website or mobile app
- Pickup: $30 minimum purchase + $2.95 pickup fee
- Order must be placed at least 4 hours in advance
- Available in more than 100 locations, more coming
Publix
- Place orders on publix.com
- Curbside orders will be shopped and carried to customers’ vehicles by Publix associates at a designated pickup time for no extra charge
- Delivery or pickup, powered by Instacart
- Once your order is complete, you will be prompted to select a time to pick up your order
- Park in the curbside pickup parking space, then call store, associates will load it to your car
HEB
- Order on the website or mobile app
- Curbside pickup: After placing your order online, locate the parking spots designated for curbside pickup at your H‑E‑B store at your selected time. Text the number indicated on the sign to let HEB know you’ve arrived and the HEB team member will load your groceries straight into your car!
- Temporarily, next day Curbside pickup will include a $4.95 personal shopper fee. Curbside orders will be free on orders placed more than two days out
- All Home Delivery orders will include a $5 delivery fee
Meijer
- Order on the website only, the mobile app doesn’t support any purchase purchasing
- $4.95 for pickup or $9.95 for delivery
- Pick up your order at the designated store pickup area
ShopRite
- Order on the website or mobile app
- Pickup order: Simply drive up into the specially marked lane at the store entrance where you’ll be greeted by one of the attendants. Your order will be processed, carefully loaded into your vehicle and you’ll be on your way in just minutes
- ShopRite charges a $5 service fee for finding and packing groceries. Curbside pickup includes a $5.95 fee, and deliveries include a $6.95 fee (orders over $150 are free). Sometimes have free pickup and delivery offers
Whole Foods Market
- Whole Foods Market is temporarily asking Whole Foods Market customers who have not previously ordered delivery or pickup to sign up for an invitation
- Order from Amazon website or mobile app under Whole Foods tab
- Free delivery with Amazon Prime
- For orders over $35, you can select the Free Pickup window as soon as 1 hour after checkout. If your order is less than $35 or you choose to pick up as soon as 30 minutes after checkout, a pickup fee will be charged
- If you select a one-hour delivery option, a delivery fee will be charged based on the order’s subtotal
- Delivery is free if you select a two-hour delivery window on orders over $35
Trader Joe’s
- No pickup or delivery. But can order delivery through a third-party app, like Postmates.
Ranking
Here it comes to our final ranking. The method we follow is strictly what consumers value the most:
- Free delivery
- Website user experience
- Same-day delivery
Everything is summarized in the following comparison table:
Here are some observations:
- There aren’t many 100% free options. Even for pickup, some stores charge you to compensate for their shopper’s labor.
- To get away from per-transaction fees, either pay a premium membership fee (Whole Foods) or visit in-store instead (Trader Joe’s).
- Unlike food delivery, grocery shopping takes time, so order ahead!
Here are the verdicts:
- If you have Amazon Prime, definitely take advantage of it and enjoy most things free and speedy from Whole Foods.
- Some stores do not charge pickup fees yet (Walmart, QFC, Safeway). However, they do require 3–5 hours’ notice. As long as you plan ahead, you should be able to get both free pickup without spending any time inside the store.
You might wonder, what Trader Joe’s is doing and why it does not have a “digital” footprint at all? It turns out that Trader Joe’s needs your physical footprint in their store and they do a fantastic job in protecting customers. To find out more, please read on to our next post: What are the top 10 grocers doing to protect your in-store shopping?
