Some days the thought of loading up my kids in the van and dragging them through the grocery store while I aimlessly wander around looking for haystack needles and they beg for garbage food makes me want to crawl into a hole and starve to death. Thankfully, for me, and you, grocery stores are starting to “pick up” on these feelings and have created a pick-up service where customers can buy groceries online and pick-up at the store. Grocery stores chains (Kroger for example) all across the country are trying out this new type of service. I recently used curbside pick-up at a new store in Carmel, Market District.
After a long, cold weekend with three kids, an old dog, a new puppy and a wife stuck at work, I decided to give it a shot. Normally, there is a five dollar fee for the service, but like any good salespeople that want to get you hooked on their product, the first three times are free. So, I literally had nothing to lose (unless you count all the impulse buys I would’ve made in store). The process could not have been simpler. First, I logged into my store’s website using the same savings card number I use to get sale prices in store. Then, I chose a pick-up time for later that day. Prices vary for the service depending on whether you choose same day pick-up or not. Once I logged in, all my recent/most frequent purchases popped up on the screen. I clicked through everything I usually buy on my regular store trips, then one section at a time, I searched and clicked my way through the rest of this virtual grocery store.
After I’d finished shopping, I was given the option of allowing substitutions if needed. Finally, there was a comment box where I could customize products to my liking. As an example, this is where I could type in specifically how I’d like my deli meat sliced and whether I wanted my bananas to be green or yellow. A few more clicks and I was done.
Later that day, I drove to the store, pulled into the designated parking spot and called the grocery store telling them I was there for a pick-up. A couple minutes later a worker came out of the store pushing a cart full of my groceries. She even offered to load them into my van for me, but I figured I could at least do that part myself. A quick swipe of my credit card and I was done. It was just that easy.
I cannot recommend this type of service enough. I can’t imagine how much I would have used this when my kids were even smaller and I had to haul that big plastic baby bucket seat around the grocery store with me. This type of service would have been priceless. By the way no grocery store is paying me a nickel for saying all this, it just seems like such an awesome service I wanted to tell as many people about it as possible.
So please, share this post, spread the word.
Happy grocery store shopping/clicking!
-Pete
