Yahoo Finance Kroger (KR) Launches Delivery Now Tool to Lure Customers
The pandemic has spiked demand for grocery deliveries to date that is not going to fade anytime soon. In fact, retailers are strongly reinforcing their delivery services to capitalize on this prevailing trend. Progressing along such lines, giant grocery retailer The Kroger Co. KR teamed up with Instacart, a renowned e-commerce grocery platform, to offer deliveries quickly in 30 minutes via its Kroger Delivery Now service.
The recently-introduced Kroger Delivery Now service delivers fresh food items, snacks and household staples nationwide all through the day from Kroger’s first-of-its-kind virtual convenience store. With this newly-launched service, Instacart also unveiled the Convenience Hub on the Instacart Marketplace to provide convenience shopping.
Convenience Hub, which is a differentiated product experience, enables Instacart Express members to shop essentials 24/7 in almost every key U.S. city with no cost Priority Delivery within just half an hour on orders above $10.
Kroger Delivery Now is available only on the retailer’s website and at the Instacart Marketplace. Guests can purchase items from Kroger's stores including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Fry's, Mariano's and Smith's locations. To avail this new service, customers are not required to make a trade-off on selection, speed, quality and price. The Kroger Delivery Now facility includes an array of 25,000 items for immediate doorstep delivery.
Kroger Delivery Now to Aid Online Sales
Kroger Delivery Now looks forward to become the unique solution in the e-commerce arena, reaching out to more customers with a convenient and speedy delivery. This service is expected to strongly drive Kroger’s e-commerce revenues and in turn, boost its profits. CEO Rodney McMullen said, “Last year, Kroger achieved more than $10 billion in e-commerce sales, and we're committed to doubling both our digital sales and profitability rate by the end of 2023 and expect Kroger Delivery Now will help us reach that target".
Kroger-Instacart partnership dates back to 2017 wherein the retailer offers its full-grocery line-up in two-hour delivery. Both companies stretched their partnership in 2019 to start alcohol delivery, which Instacart now delivers from about 1,500 Kroger Family of Stores in 15 states. The Kroger Delivery Now is expected to work wonders and give a solid boost to its online sales, given the ongoing speedy delivery trends.
What’s More?
Kroger is leaving no stone unturned to enrich shoppers’ experience with new and advanced technology. The company has been making investments to enhance product freshness and quality as well as expand its digital capabilities.
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Kroger’s digital business remains one of its key drivers. The company is already focusing on no-contact delivery option, low-contact pickup service, ship-to-home orders and contactless payment solutions like Kroger Pay, Scan as well as Bag and Go. Its Customer Fulfillment Center (CFC) to ensure efficient deliveries is also worth a mention. These initiatives are helping this presently Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company give a tough competition to Walmart WMT and Target TGT.
Shares of this Cincinnati, OH-based company have increased 31.6% so far this year, outperforming its industry’s 2.2% growth.
Another stock worth considering is Costco COST, which has a long-term earnings growth rate of 9.3% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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