Meijer Expands Delivery Assortment for the Holidays
Midwestern mass-merchandiser Meijer is adding thousands of items to its home-delivery service in time for the busy, competitive holiday season.
Along with general merchandise items from home décor to toys and electronics, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer is offering all products needed for holiday dining and entertaining, including prepared turkeys, hams and sides, which can be purchased in the deli department, the retailer told Progressive Grocer. These items have been added to the fresh produce, grocery and general merchandise items already available, all handpicked by shoppers at Birmingham, Ala.-based delivery provider Shipt from local Meijer stores.
“Bringing the holidays to our customers’ doors is added convenience,” Art Sebastian, Meijer VP of digital shopping, told PG.
Added Sebastian: “They are getting the full-level convenience from their local Meijer store. So if you think about what we’re offering, customers have access to over 70,000 items in our store, and that includes fresh produce, grocery and everyday essentials, and holiday-related items – everything from décor and artificial trees to toys and electronics ... all of that. What we’ve done is effectively change the way customers shop in the Midwest by bringing them this variety [from] the store to their door in as little as a couple hours."
The news comes just more than one week after Meijer revealed that it’s on target to complete 1 million home deliveries by the end of the year. The service has expanded to more than 200 stores in the 148 days following the fall 2016 launch at 25 stores in the Detroit area, and is available to more than 10 million households in its six-state footprint of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky.
Meijer President and CEO Rick Keyes said that one reason the program has been so successful is the company's ability to offer product selection from its supercenters. A typical Meijer store features everything from fresh produce and grocery to general merchandise items, including light bulbs, diapers and baby items, as well as bulk items such as bags of rock salt and pet foods.
Meijer customers can sign up for the service for $99 per year. Unlimited deliveries are free for orders over $35; a flat $7 delivery fee is added to any orders under $35.
To support its holiday push, Meijer also has released a new Thanksgiving TV commercial that celebrates the time-honored tradition of traveling home for the holiday. The 60-second spot, which debuted Nov. 4 in select cities and will expand to all markets in the retailer’s six-state footprint leading up to Thanksgiving Day, features three scenarios of families and friends traveling home for Thanksgiving, including one actor who is an actual veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and grew up shopping at Meijer.
“Of all the holidays, travel is most associated with Thanksgiving,” said Nicole Laughlin, VP of brand development and marketing at Meijer. “We were able to marry two concepts we know a lot about – family and food – into one TV commercial that beautifully captures the anticipation of going home and the delight around sharing Thanksgiving with family.”
The Meijer Thanksgiving TV spot was developed by Chicago-based advertising agency The Distillery Project, which also produced Meijer’s award-winning 2016 holiday TV commercial, which is scheduled to be rebroadcast this year after Thanksgiving. The new commercial’s media buy includes airing the spot as a pre-roll video on relevant video featured on Teads.tv and YouTube. Meijer will also use SambaTV to expand its views across devices such as Roku, AmazonFire TV and Tivo.