Peapod Pick-Up Debuts
E-grocer Peapod this week launched the Peapod Pick-Up service, which enables shoppers to order groceries online for pickup at a Stop & Shop store in Abington, Mass. For a limited time, the service, which is worth $2.95, will be offered free and shoppers can choose a one-hour pickup time between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
“Customers can shop anywhere, anytime from a computer, tablet or smartphone, and Peapod Pick-Up now provides a convenient alternative to our delivery service,” noted Andrew Parkinson, president of Skokie, Ill.-based Peapod, a division of Ahold USA, adding that the e-grocer planned to offer the service at additional locations.
Although Ahold’s U.S. divisions already offer pickup points at three store locations, this is the first time customers can place orders for pickup on the website. Customers within a 10-mile radius of the Abington store can shop on Peapod.com as they would usually shop for a delivery order, pay online, and then choose either delivery or pickup.
At the Abington pickup point, the orders are “picked” in a Peapod wareroom and then taken to a special storage locker on the side of the store, in contrast to the other U.S. pickup points, where the orders are assembled in the stores. The customer has already paid online and can arrive at a drive-through window where an attendant will place the bags in the car.
Peapod shoppers can also compile personal lists, access nutrition information online, sort products rapidly by price or by nutrition criteria, and take advantage of thousands of weekly specials. Stop & Shop customers are able to shop from a list of items they’ve bought at their local stores by entering their Stop & Shop card number online, and can also earn Stop & Shop Gas Rewards and A+ School Rewards points on pickup orders.
“Stop & Shop was one of the first supermarket chains in the nation to offer home delivery when it partnered with Peapod in 1996,” said Joe Kelley, president of Stop & Shop New England Division in Quincy, Mass. “Peapod Pick-Up is a terrific addition to Peapod delivery and continues to support our goal of helping customers shop the way they want to shop.”