Online grocery sales get push in three counties
Internet grocery service on a scale previously unseen in the region arrives this week as the online grocer Peapod plants stakes with home delivery in three counties.
Internet grocery service on a scale previously unseen in the region arrives this week as the online grocer Peapod plants stakes with home delivery in three counties.
Starting Friday, shoppers in several dozen zip codes of Philadelphia and dozens of towns in Delaware and Montgomery Counties will be able to order groceries through Peapod's website or mobile-phone apps. (For a list, visit http://www.peapod.com/.)
The move follows the spring expansion of Peapod, a sister company to Giant Food Stores, to Manhattan, where FreshDirect has been an entrenched online-grocery operator.
Peapod's actions are fueled by a belief that demand will grow, particularly among young consumers who are comfortable with ordering food on cellphones and online, said Scott DeGraeve, senior vice president and general manager of Illinois-based Peapod.
Peapod's launch over the last year of mobile apps for iPhones and Android smartphones was strong: "We see double-digit usage of people ordering over apps," DeGraeve said.
Initially, shoppers mostly placed orders from computers and kept tabs with smartphones, he said. Now, they are revising orders throughout the day from their cellphones.
The recent popularity of tablet computers has also shifted the pattern, generating a "tremendous increase" in the number of customers placing Peapod orders from iPads, DeGraeve said.
Up till now, what has been more commonly found in the region is home delivery of groceries from particular supermarkets in a neighborhood, said Food Trade News publisher Jeff Metzger.
Peapod's model is different. It fills orders from an Internet-only storage warehouse in Maryland, placing perishable and nonperishable groceries into temperature-controlled tote bags before shipping them out in tractor-trailers. In Philadelphia, the groceries will be removed and loaded into small trucks.
Metzger said online-grocery delivery had struggled to take off despite repeated efforts nationwide over the last 20 years. But today, he said, Peapod has a sophisticated logistical system in place that positions it as a leader.
A minimum order of $60 will carry a $9.95 delivery fee. Orders $75 and over will cost $8.95, while $100 and over will cost $7.95. Orders placed by 7 p.m. may be delivered as early as 7 a.m. the next day.