Rite Aid Turns to Instacart to Expand Grocery Deliveries
Rite Aid has become the latest food retailer to expand its grocery delivery services, this time via Instacart.
On Wednesday the Camp Hill, Pa.-based retailer said that consumers can make orders via the Rite Aid or Instacart online ordering channels, and then have those products delivered to their homes. The service is available from 2,400 Rite Aid stores in 18 states.
Consumers “can access a full catalog of health care and grocery products from their local store, excluding prescription medications,” the retailer said. “All Instacart orders now default to Leave at My Door Delivery, in order to maintain social distance and allow customers to receive deliveries safely.” The service does not apply to prescriptions, however.
Grocery deliveries and online and mobile orders have increased in popularity during the pandemic, and retailers and delivery services are rushing to meet that demand. “At Rite Aid, we are focused on providing our customers and communities with the essentials they need during these unprecedented times,” said Jim Peters, the company's COO. “To further enhance our services, we have teamed up with Instacart to offer our customers another convenient method of shopping at Rite Aid from the safety and comfort of home.”
Instacart, meanwhile, has said it would hire 250,000 workers to keep up with pandemic demand for grocery deliveries. The San Francisco-based company also set new measures for its growing shopper community, including new in-app shopper wellness checks as well as the expansion of its COVID-19 extended pay policies for all shoppers, and bonuses for in-store teams.
Since March 1, Instacart has worked with 36 retailers that operate some 2,700 stores to launch or expand grocery delivery services as consumers remain at home during the COVID-19 outbreak. Average customer baskets for those Instacart-enabled orders have increased by more than 35%.
Besides Rite Aid, other food retailers have expanded their own delivery programs, with or without Instacart. A recent example comes from Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets. That supermarket chain already offers shoppers e-commerce delivery and curbside pickup options through Instacart, but a new partnership with Columbus, Ohio-based ScriptDrop will give customers the option of prescription home delivery within a 5-mile radius of each in-store Publix Pharmacy.
Operating more than 2,400 retail pharmacy locations across 18 states, Rite Aid is No. 18 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s list of the top food retailers in North America, while Publix, with 1,242 stores in seven southeastern states, is No. 12 on the list.
