GREENSBORO, NC – On March 2nd, folks will have the opportunity to have their groceries delivered to their home.
An online grocery delivery services, known as Shipt, will begin deliveries in Winston-Salem and Greensboro. According to their website, shipt.com, people can sign up for a membership, download the app and simply select the groceries, choose a delivery option and checkout.
Shipt partners with local and national retailers, offering same day grocery deliver and delivery is free for orders over $35. Access to Shipt grocery delivery comes through an annual membership that costs $99. The delivery service will start with Whole Foods, and hopes to expand to other stores in the coming months.
Shipt started delivering groceries in Birmingham, Alabama in 2015. Greensboro and Winston-Salem will make markets number 33 and 34.
Over the past few years, online grocery shopping has increased, with US stores making a little under seven billion dollars in online sales in 2015. That number is projected to grow to close to 18 billion by 2020. The Hartman Group, the Online Grocery Shopper Report, broke down the top four reasons people prefer to have someone else do their shopping.
39% to save time, 36% to save money, 27% to save gas and 15% to order food items in large quantities.
We asked a few shoppers at a local store in Greensboro if they were excited for the new service. The opinions were mixed.
“I feel like technology kind of drives everything, so it’s kind of making you stay at home, stopping you from interacting with people, socializing, seeing people and I think it just pushes that isolation from society,” said 20-year-old Nisha. “I would prefer to go to the store and pick it up myself.”
Shopper Miguel agreed, “I’m really picky about my food, so I would rather go and get it myself.”
Most shoppers we talked to said they couldn’t imagine letting someone else pick out their meats or fruit, but would be okay with canned foods.
Julie Coop, Outreach and Events Team Lead with Shipt said their shoppers pay close attention to detail when grabbing a customer’s groceries.
“Sending someone trustworthy and reliable to the store to pick up groceries, just as people would pick them out themselves. We are giving them their time back and they can rest assured that it will be done just as they would want it done,” Coop said.
Other reasons to opt for delivery or curbside grocery pick-ups include, social anxiety disorders, parents with lots of kids, people with disabilities. And for some, like shopper Juliana, it’s just easier to skip out of the line.
“I don’t like going to the store and having around all those little kids. My life it too busy. I would rather have it delivered.”
Shopper Melissa said her reason for wanting to have groceries delivered, it a simple one of comfort, “Cause, I don’t like going out to grocery stores. And it’s always could in there! It’s cold in Walmart y’all.”
People can also sign up to learn how to become a shopper on the Shipt website.