Dive Brief:
- Food Lion announced Monday the implementation of its grocery pickup services to 27 more stores across Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
- With the addition of these stores, Food Lion To Go is now offered at 630 locations across a 10-state footprint, according to the press release.
- This is the latest installment of Food Lion’s grocery pickup service and follows the growing trend of grocers adding time-saving shopping solutions to their portfolios.
Dive Insight:
Food Lion To Go has been in the process of rolling out since the announcement of the pilot program in October 2017 to a store in Mooresville, North Carolina. In August, Food Lion said it had added its pickup option to approximately half its more than 1,100 locations.
The 27 new stores that now offer the pickup service as of Monday consist of three in Maryland, nine in Virginia and 15 in North Carolina.
The service allows customers to place orders on the Food Lion To Go website or app and pick up their orders same-day with product prices matching those offered in stores. Additionally, shoppers can use their Food Lion MVP savings loyalty card to access digital coupons and redeem “Shop & Earn” MVP rewards program savings, the press release states. According to the grocer’s FAQ page, there is a $1.99 fee for orders over $35 and a $3.99 fee for ones that total under that amount.
Shoppers can also purchase beer and wine through the service, the announcement noted.
Food Lion is one of numerous grocery chains rolling out proprietary pickup services. In late October, Aldi announced developing its online grocery platform that will offer pickup and delivery services in just an hour. The service is through a tech partnership with Spryker and will stretch across the grocer’s U.S. footprint.
Pickup is the most popular channel with online shoppers, but it’s popularity is waning as delivery gains speed. Pickup accounted for 44% of the online grocery sales during the third quarter, a year-over-year decline of 1.2 percentage points, according to Brick Meets Click and Mercatus.
