US retailer Kroger has announced that its Washington-based subsidiary, QFC, is introducing Instacart home delivery at its supermarkets in Puget Sound and Portland.
The new service will allow QFC customers to choose from 40,000 products through the Instacart website or app, which will be hand-picked in store by an Instacart shopper and delivered within a selected one-hour window.
Kroger has already started a pilot programme with Instacart at some of its stores in Southern California.
“By offering home delivery in addition to in-store shopping and online ordering for kerbside pickup, we are listening to our customers who are telling us they want the convenience of shopping any way they choose,” said Suzy Monford, president of QFC.
“We know that our customers are busier than ever, but still want to feed their families fresh, healthy foods that are available at low prices. This new partnership allows our customers to have their groceries delivered to their doorsteps as soon as two hours after placing an order,” Monford continued.
Delivery Growth
The US grocery industry was shaken by Amazon's takeover of Whole Foods earlier this year, which is expected to encourage more shoppers to order groceries online.
As a result, an increasing number of retailers have been signing up for third-party services such as Instacart and Shipt, including Albertsons, Target, Lidl and Aldi.
Instacart has been the exclusive delivery partner for Whole Foods, after the grocer invested more than $30 million in the delivery start-up in 2016.
There are still a few years left on this contract, however, there is speculation that the agreement won’t continue following Amazon's acquisition.
Instacart's delivery service now operates in over 150 geographic markets.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
