Superstore launches online personal shopping at 7 B.C. locations

Just in time for the busy holiday season and the chilly, wet weather, grocery behemoth Loblaw has kicked off a new service at seven Vancouver-area Superstore locations that lets customers order online and pick up curb-side on the same-day.

Called Click & Collect, the program is now available at the Superstore in Vancouver on Grandview Highway, as well as at locations in Kelowna and Coquitlam and Langley. In the coming weeks they’ll be adding the service in North Vancouver, Pitt Meadows, and at a second Kelowna store.

Loblaw first tested the Click & Collect program at three Toronto-area locations in 2014, and were inspired by the popularity and prevalence of the service at grocery retailers in the UK and United States, the Toronto Star reported.

Jeremy Pee, SVP of E-Commerce at Loblaw Digital, tells Vancity Buzz that Click & Collect owes its origin to customer feedback about wanting more ways to simplify their lives when it comes to their grocery shopping. With a population that are “more and more digitally engaged,” Loblaw set to creating a platform where consumers can select from about 25,000 items at each store using a customized online portal. Most of the food items and many of the general merchandise is available to order online. (Sorry, bulk lovers, they can’t scoop and weigh for you.)

Screenshot

Customers using Click & Collect can fill their virtual shopping baskets, pre-pay, then arrange for a pick-up time. In the store, a personal shopper will pull the order–even getting fresh deli meats sliced to order–and have it ready in bins. Shoppers who prefer to bring their own bags can note their order, and the Superstore attendant will bag from the bins when the customer arrives.

The stores now boast dedicated Click & Collect parking spots, and once customers are parked and let the store know they are there, they have the option to switch the tender for their order (i.e. if you’d paid with credit but want to switch to debit).

Pee says the customer can be “in and out in five minutes,” which meets their goal of helping shoppers better fit getting groceries into their busy lives. “They can save an hour of their time, and that’s something that customers are very excited about.”

Shoppers can also submit manufacturer’s coupons at pick-up, but those who already use PC Plus and collect points will find their ordering platform integrated with their program card, so that offers are flagged. As a bonus, the online platform will float to the top items frequently purchased over the past year.

The fee for Click & Collect is quite modest; it’s $3 to $5 per order, depending on the time of pick up. Pee says the lower fee is an incentive for shoppers to come when the store is less busy.

What’s nice for Loblaw is, as Pee elaborates, that on average, customers are placing larger orders online than they would in-store.

Right now Loblaw is only offering Click & Collect at these seven B.C. Superstores, however as the program takes hold they will continue to “evaluate the possibility” of adding additional Superstore or City Market locations.