COLUMBUS – Trips to the grocery store may soon be as much a part of retailing history as the milkman as more and more large chains get into the delivery business.
This Thursday, Kroger will provide home delivery from 55 central Ohio locations through its partnership with Instacart, the chain announced Monday.
Kroger Columbus already currently offers 52 Clicklist curbside pickup locations, with plans to add 45 new locations in 2018, and delivers from more than 872 stores in 45 markets across the country with plans to add 500 new locations by the end of the year.
“When you look at Kroger’s customer coverage area for seamless shopping, two-thirds of our customers – more than 40 million households – have access to curbside pickup and/or delivery,” said Yael Cosset, Kroger’s chief digital officer.
Walmart is also expanding its same-day online grocery delivery service to more than 100 metro areas, or 40 percent of U.S. households, by year-end as it tries to keep pace with online leader Amazon.com.
Walmart shoppers pay a flat fee of $9.95 but are required to spend at least $30 per delivery order.
Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market last year has raised the stakes in the highly competitive grocery delivery wars. Amazon recently added free two-hour Whole Foods delivery to six cities, including Atlanta, Dallas and Cincinnati, for its Prime members who pay $99 a year.
And Target, through its acquisition of grocery delivery startup Shipt last year, is expanding same-day delivery of such items as groceries and electronics to nearly every major market by the holiday shopping season.