The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Schnuck Markets is preparing to face off against increased competition in the grocery segment by "betting big on online ordering and same-day delivery. Beginning next month, Schnucks is rolling out a new delivery service at 29 of its local stores, including the Metro East, to both homes and businesses."
The story notes that Schnucks is working with Instacart, which also serves a number of other retailers in the marketplace, including Straub’s, Shop ’n Save, Whole Foods, Costco and Petco: "Beginning next month, customers can access Schnucks Delivers’ new service online at Schnucksdelivers.com. Instacart will provide the software, shoppers and drivers."
This is the second go-round for Schnuck Markets in the e-grocery space. It launched Express Connection a number of years ago, and stopped taking new customers two years ago.
The story notes that Schnucks is working with Instacart, which also serves a number of other retailers in the marketplace, including Straub’s, Shop ’n Save, Whole Foods, Costco and Petco: "Beginning next month, customers can access Schnucks Delivers’ new service online at Schnucksdelivers.com. Instacart will provide the software, shoppers and drivers."
This is the second go-round for Schnuck Markets in the e-grocery space. It launched Express Connection a number of years ago, and stopped taking new customers two years ago.
- KC's View:
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I applaud the decision to get into e-grocery, but I am a little skeptical about the Instacart piece of the puzzle. First there is the fact that Instacart has had some labor issues lately - like a decision to recalculate how its people get paid, which led to some level of employee antipathy, which could be communicated to shoppers.
Add to that the fact that Schnucks' people always have been a differential advantage for the company. Now they're letting someone else handle the customer interface at the point of delivery, and the someone else also is repping the very companies from which Schnuck's is trying to differentiate itself.
I just think that this is one part of the experience that I'd prefer not to outsource.
