Walmart Joins Giant Eagle In Offering Online Grocery Services, But At No Charge
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Move over, Giant Eagle.
Walmart is now offering online curbside grocery service with one big difference.
"I know, it's free," noted one shopper.
Walmart is not charging customers for ordering groceries online and then driving to participating stores where Walmart associates load your car with your groceries.
Deb Martz, of Moon Township, was one of the first at the Robinson Walmart to use the service.
"The fact that I can go online, I can check it all out, I can look and make sure I've got everything I need, and then click the button and come and pick it up… awesome!" she said.
Martz has used the Giant Eagle curbside service, which pioneered this four years ago, but she's switching to Walmart.
"I like Walmart prices better, and there are some products that Walmart has that I like better, but it's really prices," Martz told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Tuesday.
Fifty percent of all Walmart's sales now come from groceries.
"It's a fantastic business to our store," notes Walmart's Carrie Nagy, an e-commerce market coach.
Ordering through a smartphone or laptop sends an associate through the aisles to shop for you, but you have to order by 10 a.m. for same day pickup.
"In this case, they want beef ravioli, and they want a quantity of two," said Walmart associate Ryan Beatty as he filled an order.
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So will large grocery stores like the Walmart in Robinson where people shop individually become a thing of the past?
Probably not.
But online shopping is a convenience for many. It does save time, and for certain kinds of people may be perfect.
"It's the busy mom and dad," says Nagy.
"It's also the millennials that understand how fast and speedy online shopping is. It's also for anybody that may have a handicap or the elderly who have a hard time navigating our stores."
With a young child, Deb Martz is a convert to online grocery shopping.
"Going grocery shopping with a 5-year-old can make a 20-minute job an hour and a half," she notes.
But plenty of shoppers still prefer the in-store experience.
"I like to see the product that I'm buying when it comes to food because it's important to my family that they get good quality," says Joellen Jonnet, of Moon.
