Meijer shoppers can now add something new to their carts when browsing the retailer's Web site: Groceries.
A year after unveiling its e-commerce site, Meijer will now begin offering grocery and dry good items bought in bulk from www.meijer.com.
Now open for business, the new Grocery By The Case program will feature more than 2,000 products available for purchase. Meijer estimates that shoppers will save at least 5 percent when buying items by the case as opposed to purchasing them individually.
"Grocery has always been the cornerstone of the Meijer business, so it's a logical evolution for us offer grocery items to our online shoppers," said Rob Fleener, vice president of marketing and e-commerce for Meijer. "This is another example of our efforts to help Meijer customers save time and money."
Unlike existing online grocery services that charge a delivery fee, Meijer will offer free shipping for orders of $150 and more. For orders valued below $75, there will be a $6.95 charge for the delivery. For orders valued at $75-149.99, the delivery charge is set at $9.95. All orders will arrive within five to seven days from the time of the online purchase.
A recent study by Forrester Research found that consumers spend approximately $6 billion annually for online purchases of food, beverage and grocery items. The study also projected that online grocery sales will more than double (to $13.7 billion) within the next four years.
Grocery By The Case will be an additional site section found on www.meijer.com. In addition to groceries, the program will include household and cleaning supplies, laundry products, pet food and hundreds of other items. On the grocery side, shoppers will find a wide assortment of products available, ranging from salsa and sports drinks to pasta and pancake mix. The product categories include baking; beverages; cereal and breakfast foods; condiments, salad dressings and sauces; pasta, grains and side dishes; snacks and candy; and soup and canned goods.
Last month, Meijer began test-marketing a personal shopping program called Grocery Express that enables shoppers to order groceries online and have them personally delivered to their car at the local Meijer parking lot. In July the company launched Meijer Mealbox, a Web-based widget that allows customers to plan a week's worth of meals in minutes by providing access to thousands of Meijer recipes, ingredients, coupons and special promotions.
"Grocery By The Case is a very user-friendly and easy-to-navigate site that makes for a smooth online shopping experience," Fleener said. "Coupled with the fact that we'll be the only major player offering free shipping, this service will certainly be well received by our customers."
More at www.meijer.com.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
