Ralphs Launches Click-and-Collect Service
Southern California’s Ralphs Grocery Co. has launched online shopping with curbside pickup using parent company Kroger’s exclusive ClickList system.
ClickList debuted Aug. 5 at Ralphs’ supermarket in Carlsbad, Calif., the first Ralphs location to offer the service and the first of 12 expected to have it by the end of the year.
"We want to be able to offer our customers anything, anytime, anywhere," said Valerie Jabbar, president of Ralphs. "It's important that we stay ahead of our competition. Our customers' lifestyles are constantly changing, and we have to change with them. It's exciting to be part of something that makes such a big a difference in the lives of our customers."
Evolution of Shopping Technology
ClickList allows customers to shop online and pick up and pay for their order curbside. Nationally, Cincinnati-based Kroger has been testing online shopping and collecting customers' feedback about the service since November 2014.
Currently, ClickList is featured in more than 120 stores in seven Kroger divisions across the country. The introduction of ClickList to Ralphs in the Southern California market illustrates the evolution of customers embracing technology to enhance their shopping experiences.
Customers build their digital carts by clicking and adding products, then select an available pick-up time. Store associates pick the orders, which are loaded into customers’ cars when they arrived to the designated pickup location at the front of the store.
ClickList also allows customers to include special instructions with their orders – for example, fruit of a certain ripeness or meat cut to a specific thickness.
"Our dedicated team of ClickList associates have been specially trained to shop for our customers as they would if they were shopping for their own families," Jabbar said. "Our ClickList associates have been taught to keep quality and freshness top of mind and they are required to check the dates on products and confirm customers receive items with the longest shelf life."
ClickList includes no minimum or maximum orders and online shoppers may purchase most products Ralphs offers, including over-the-counter health and beauty products, tobacco and liquor. Some seasonal items, hot foods and pharmacy prescriptions cannot be purchased.
Over the next five months, Ralphs plans to introduce the ClickList online ordering service to stores located in Burbank, Granada Hills, Indio, Long Beach, Los Angeles/Ladera Heights, Pasadena, Rancho Cucamonga, Redondo Beach, Seal Beach, Van Nuys and Westchester.
Los Angeles-based Ralphs Grocery Co. was founded in 1873 and currently operates 198 supermarkets.