Grocery delivery services have become all the rage as consumers lives get increasingly busier and eCommerce grows.
New York-based Wegmans is the latest grocery store to join the trend, as it recently announced news of its partnership with delivery service Instacart to launch food delivery services throughout the country.
This week, Wegmans began its grocery delivery service for supermarkets in Rochester, NY. People in the area will now be able to select items online and have Instacart employees do the physical picking and food delivery.
Instacart’s spokesperson Kyle Carnes shared how employees will select the items. “Really they are acting as an avatar for the customer in the store,” said Carnes. “They are their eyes and ears, shopping for them. The customer can follow along in real time. If things are out of stock … maybe they want to add to their order … our shoppers are able to do that.”
While this delivery service is making grocery shopping more convenient, it’s not without its added costs. There’s a $5.99 Instacart delivery fee and at least a 13 percent markup on store items. Whereas a gallon of milk would be $1.79 at the store, it’s listed as $2.19 online. Other items throughout Wegmans’ supermarkets will have varying degrees of price markups for those choosing to use the delivery service.
Many people in the East Avenue area of Rochester racing to sign up for the service, and Wegmans is declaring a successful launch of this new delivery option.
Wegmans’ spokesperson Jo Vitale commented on the grocery store delivery service saying, “We first launched this in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Of course, those are places where ordering online and home delivery is not unusual, whereas in upstate New York, it is.”
By adding its headquarter city of Rochester to its roster of home deliveries, Wegmans is further expanding its territory and upping its game against other major up-and-coming players like Amazon’s newly acquired Whole Foods Market.