Soon you won’t have to schlep all the way to Aldi, pay $0.25 to rent a cart, and then bag your own groceries. You can just wait at home and let Instacart do all that work instead.
Aldi announced today that starting later this month customers in Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles will soon be able to order groceries from the retailer and have them delivered to their home in as little as one hour.
The pilot, which could expand to additional cities in the future, is Aldi’s way of expanding its “commitment to customer convenience,” the company says.
Because Aldi doesn’t currently support online shopping, the partnership with Instacart is the retailer’s first foray into e-commerce and delivery. The service won’t be made available through the Aldi site, but through the Instacart website or app.
“We know customers are looking for new ways to save time and money. Instacart provides easy access to our low prices at the click of a button,” Jason Hart, CEO of Aldi, said in a statement.
Hitting The Streets
It’s not surprising Aldi’s testing grocery deliveries; analysts have warned that the $13.7 billion Amazon-Whole Foods merger would force supermarkets to take delivery service more seriously.
Analysts told the Wall Street Journal in June that Amazon could eventually double Whole Foods’ 466 stores as distribution centers and cut prices to make goods more attractive to online shoppers. With that in mind, many grocery delivery services and their retailers have worked to expand their own reach.
For instance, Schnucks Markets delved into delivery by teaming up with Instacart, which now carts groceries to customers’ homes in about 100 cities.
Likewise, Shipt plans to double its service, which includes delivering orders from Costco and Meijer among others, over the next year.
Keeping Up With The Other Chains
The addition of a delivery option at Aldi is just the latest step the chain has taken in the ongoing supermarket battles. Back in May, the company said it planned to beat Walmart’s prices on groceries by expanding its private-label goods and in-house brands.
Aldi also announced in February that it would spend $1.6 billion to upgrade stores to be more Whole Foods-esque.
The new look came just months after it was reported that the always sought after millennial demographic was flocking to Aldi over Whole Foods’ new, hipper version of its stores, 365.
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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