Dive Brief:
- Meijer said it will expand its home delivery service thanks to its partnership with Shipt, according to theShelby Report.
- The expanded service will take place in the retailer’s six-state footprint, starting with Grand Rapids, Mich. and Fort Wayne and Indianapolis in Indiana. Meijer will follow into other major markets in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin.
- A membership for Shipt delivery service costs $99 a year, with unlimited free grocery deliveries on all orders more than $35.
Dive Insight:
梅耶尔测试数字送货上门检修e in Detroit last year and saw more than 65,000 orders placed in just six months. That was enough to convince the company that it was time to invest more into the service and expand.
Now seems to be the time to act.Nielsen’s “The Future of Grocery” report predicts小货车或交付将增长,网上订购ubstantially from 12% and 9% of U.S. consumers who tried these options in 2015 to 55% and 57%, respectively, by end of 2017.
One of the ways Meijer is different than some others is that its retail stores are open 24 hours, so Shipt deliveries will be available at most store locations around the clock. That’s sure to appeal to a millennial generation that doesn’t live by the standard 9-5 mindset. A Shipt membership can select from 55,000 items across Meijer stores using the smartphone app or place orders directly through shipt.com.
Once a way for a retailer to differentiate itself from itscompetitors, home delivery and pickup services have becomecommonin the grocery industry.Wal-Mart is spending a collective $2 billionin 2016-17 to offer home delivery and in-store pickup. In eight U.S. cities, the company offers free curbside pickup of online orders. Kroger, meanwhile, hasrapidly expanded its Click List service, which also offers curbside order pickup, to more than 600 company stores. Other smaller retailers also are branching out into home delivery.
While click and collect services can offer low-margin grocers another revenue stream, itsupside may not be as much as some thinkonce issues such as labor costs and potential disruptions to other customers shopping in the store while items are collected is factored in.
