SpartanNash Expands Click-and-Collect to Minn., Wis. Family Fresh Markets

Family Fresh Markets shoppers in Wisconsin and Minnesota can now buy groceries online and pick them up curbside at their local store.

The chain’s parent company, retailer-wholesaler SpartanNash, has expanded the click-and-collect service to five new stores: Hudson, New Richmond and River Falls, Wis.; as well as Farmington and St. Peter, Minn. Ecommerce shoppers who prefer physical pickup can place their orders through shopthefastlane.com.

Fast Lane orders are put together by SpartanNash associates who serve as personal shoppers, focusing on selecting fresh, quality items from each aisle of the store. Store guests can also include notes for the shoppers to follow, allowing them to request specific items such as green bananas and thick-sliced ham from the deli.

Store guests with Yes loyalty accounts – and repeat Fast Lane shoppers – will automatically have their preferences loaded into their Fast Lane account, making it even easier to clip digital coupons, select commonly purchased items or sort by department, sale items or dietary restrictions when placing an order.

All orders placed at shopthefastlane.com before 3 p.m. will be available for same-day pickup.

“Our click-and-collect program takes our company’s digital customer experience to a whole new level,” said Ted Adornato, SpartanNash EVP and GM of corporate retail. “The entire Fast Lane experience is tailored to fit the needs of our on-the-go store guests, while providing quality products at an affordable price.”

Fast Lane was developed in partnership with Unata, a Toronto-based provider of one-to-one digital solutions for grocers that is now owned by Instacart. SpartanNash's digital customer experience allows shoppers to both plan their in-store shopping and make click-and-collect orders on one interconnected website, seamlessly switching between the two methods of shopping without losing their product selections.

SpartanNash launched Fast Lane in July 2017 and, at the time, shared plans to expand the program to two dozen stores that year and up to double that number in 2018. It has exceeded those plans, currently offering the service at 58 SpartanNash stores in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, including Family Fare Supermarkets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery, Dan’s Supermarket and Family Fresh.

Click-and-collect programs have showed strong growth among grocers in recent editions of Progressive Grocer’s Annual Report. In 2018’s report, which released last month, nearly one-third of grocers surveyed said they offer such a program to shoppers, compared to 23 percent saying the same in last year’s report and 15 percent saying the same in the prior year’s.