CINCINNATI -- If you're a Kroger ClickList shopper, life just got a little bit easier: The company has joined a growing list of retailers jumping into Greater Cincinnati's grocery delivery market.
For now, it's only available at two area stores: Whitewater and Sharonville. Some customers got an email Sunday telling them about the new service.
Kroger spokeswoman Patty Leesemann says it works like this:
- Customers who live within a 5- to 8-mile radius of those two stores are eligible for home delivery.
- The cost per delivery $11.95, which includes the $4.95 ClickList fee.
- Customers can order online and will pay online for Same Day or Next Day delivery.
- Kroger is officially partnering with Grocery Runners who will pick up the order and deliver to a customer's home. Grocery Runners had already been delivering ClickList orders as an independent service, not through Kroger.
- Once the driver picks up an order, the customer receives a text message letting them know their groceries are on the way to their home.
- Drivers are only responsible for delivering groceries -- they don't take payment.
After the testing period, Leesemann said Kroger plans to roll out delivery to other ClickList locations.
Shopper Pam Stevenson of Sharonville is a loyal ClickList user, saying "it's so much quicker. I'm in and out in 10 minutes, instead of an hour."
Now, she says, she is looking forward to trying delivery. "I will probably use it at times, especially in bad weather and things like that," she said.
Kroger has faced competitive pressure since Amazon moved to buy grocery rival Whole Foods. Amazon is surveying the market, according to reports, and could offer delivery in the coming months.
Independent grocery co-op Clifton Market offers quick and cheap delivery within the Interstate 275 loop, also using Grocery Runners.
But the 800-pound gorilla might be Meijer, which delivers orders from its 5,000-pound selection using Shipt. While delivery itself is free to members, membership is $99 a year, and each item has a 10 percent delivery surcharge added.
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