5 Grocery Chains That Are Taking Delivery to New Heights
If you're looking to buy groceries today, you're probably asking yourself whether you should even bother with a trip to the store.
Shoppers are increasingly ordering online instead. More than a third of consumers are now skipping the brick-and-mortar grocery store altogether in favor of digital-based delivery services, up from just 2.2% in 2020—a "stunning shift in just three years," according a recent report by economic data company Pymnts.
Traditional retailers are hustling to adapt in this new tech-driven environment. Many major U.S. grocery chains have recently announced new or expanded delivery options, often in partnership with tech companies to help with logistics, thereby giving customers even more reasons to stay home.
Adjust your shopping plans accordingly.
Aldi
America's fastest-growing grocery chain just announced a new partnership with DoorDash, offering same-day delivery services from over 2,100 locations across 38 U.S. states. In a press release, a DoorDash exec called Aldi "one of our consumers' most highly requested grocers." Order through the DoorDash app or website to get any number of Aldi's unique store-brand products like the "fan favorite" Mama Cozzi's pizza—or even something from the retailer's "Aisle of Shame."
Sign up for our newsletter!
Kroger
The nation's largest supermarket operator recently opened its newest high-tech "spoke" facility in Austin, Texas, to fulfill online delivery orders. Since 2018, Kroger has partnered with U.K.-based Ocado Group to open up to 20 of these massive robotics-driven facilities, which allow the grocer to expand its delivery footprint even in areas where it has no brick-and-mortar stores, according to Winsight Grocery Business. Kroger now delivers in 36 states.
Sprouts Farmers Market
One of the country's fastest-growing, fresh- and organic-focused grocers, Sprouts started offering delivery via DoorDash last November, beginning with its home market in Phoenix, according to Supermarket News. Customers can now order Sprouts' better-for-you products from at least 50 locations, including stores in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
Target
America's sixth-largest food retailer just announced a new $100 million investment to bolster its delivery capabilities, according to Winsight Grocery Business. Target's plan calls for building at least six new sorting facilities beyond its existing nine, allowing the company to process online orders more quickly. Previously, the retailer fulfilled all digital sales in backrooms at its stores.
Walmart
Delivery has really taken off at Walmart—quite literally, in fact. This past December, America's top food retailer launched airborne drones to deliver groceries and other goods in U.S. cities including Dallas, Orlando, Phoenix and Tampa. By January, the company said it had expanded aerial deliveries to seven states with drone hubs located at 36 different Walmart stores. The most popular items for drone orders? Great Value-brand cookies and cream ice cream, lemons, rotisserie chicken, Red Bull, and Bounty paper towels, according to the company.
