Grocery stores are upping their game in the e-commerce channel. Mercator continues to believe that 2019 is a breakout year for U.S. online grocery sales. Further evidence can be seen in a newly announced partnership between Wegman’s and DoorDash. Grocery stores are fulfilling consumers’ on-demand urge with either prepared meals or regular stocked store items for delivery or curbside pickup. Meanwhile, delivery companies have scaled up to a level that covers practically all U.S. metro areas. All of this makes for an appetizing trend as grocery sales will show a significant uptick in the next few years.
A Supermarket News article discusses more on this topic which is excerpted below.
Following a successful pilot, Wegmans Food Markets has begun delivering meals from select stores through a partnership with last-mile delivery platform DoorDash.
“We promise to ‘make great meals easy,’ and it doesn’t get any easier than this,” Erica Tickle, e-commerce group manager for Rochester-based Wegmans, said in a statement. “What’s unique about Wegmans Meals 2GO is the variety of delicious menu options. During the year-long pilot at our Pittsford store, we listened and learned, fine-tuned the app and created a menu that had something for everyone at home or at work.”
“Our partnership with Wegmans showcases DoorDash’s focus and commitment to better serve our customers and merchant partners beyond restaurant delivery,” said Casey North, vice president of drive at San Francisco-based DoorDash, which in January said it became the first on-demand platform to operate in all 50 states, covering over 3,300 cities. “Wegmans will leverage our strong logistics platform, which enables them to further deliver on their promise to make great meals easy.”
Wegmans has continued to extend the reach of its on-demand services. At the end of February, the grocer completed a rollout of Instacart Pickup to all of its 21 stores in the Rochester area after launching the service at two of the locations last year.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group
