Grocery Store Trends | Arizona Financial Credit Union

Work, being a parent, laundry, exercise, attempting to have a social life … some weeks finding time to shop for groceries can be a real challenge. Walmart, Fry’s and Safeway are a few of the grocery store retailers who are here to save the day! Now you can order your groceries online and select a convenient time for you to either have them delivered or pick them up.

So, is it really that easy? Here are my personal experiences with Walmart, Fry’s and Safeway. Please keep in mind I placed all of my orders using my smartphone and not a computer. Also, I always have a running list of what we need to get from the store, and I found this made ordering online much easier.

Walmart

Walmart offers both in-store pickup and delivery services. For this review I tried their in-store pickup service.

• Visit grocery.Walmart.com and enter your ZIP code.
• View the Walmart grocery collection.
• Input your location to choose your store and pickup time.
• Don’t forget there is a $30 minimum purchase and pickup is always free.

That’s it! There are no price markups or subscriptions necessary. I found the experience very simple and convenient.

Fry’s Food and Drug

I tried out Fry’s delivery service. During my shopping experience, the driver actually texted me and asked if I wanted a different tea because the one I ordered was out of stock. How cool is that? Another perk, if you’re a Fry’s rewards card member, you’ll earn fuel points on your order.

• You get free delivery on your first order. Future orders will have a $5.95 delivery fee and a $6 service charge applied at the time it’s placed.
• Visit delivery.Frysfood.com and enter your ZIP code to make sure you are in the delivery zone.
• Browse the site for what you need and add them to your cart. (Don’t forget to add digital coupons!)
• Once you’re done shopping, select your delivery time and pay for your order with a debit or credit card.

I found this experience to be my favorite. The Fry’s app was really easy to navigate, and I appreciated the communication with my driver/shopper. Fry’s also offers Fry’s® Pickup (previously called ClickList) which lets you shop online and then pick up your order curbside at your local store for a $7 fee (fees may vary).

Safeway

Like Fry’s, Safeway offers curbside pickup and delivery. For an added fee, they even offer rush delivery. (Fees vary based on order size and delivery window.) For this review, I tried their regular delivery service.

• You get free delivery on your first order. Just enter promo code “FREE” at checkout. Regular home delivery rates are usually $9.95 on purchases of $150 or more (excluding applicable tax, fuel surcharge, bottle deposits and bag fees where applicable).
• Go to shop.Safeway.com and enter your ZIP code to make sure you are in the delivery zone.
• Start shopping and adding items to your cart.
• Once you’re done, select your delivery time and pay with a debit or credit card.

I found this experience to be the most expensive even though I had a coupon for $20 off plus free delivery. Also, the site was not as user-friendly as Fry’s and Walmart.

My conclusion … if you want to save time at the store and are comfortable with technology, grocery delivery services and curbside pickup are great alternatives to your traditional weekend grocery store run.

Your turn: Leave a comment below about your experiences using grocery delivery services and which one’s your favorite.