Instant gratification
Online shopping service to ease burden of busy Cape Breton families on the move, says grocer
Selecting items on your grocery list can now be done at the click of a mouse as Atlantic Superstore unveiled its online shopping technology at three of its stores in Cape Breton on Wednesday.
An employee at Atlantic Superstore, a brand of Loblaws Companies Ltd., the largest grocer in the country, will pick out the items selected by the customer online and usher out the order to your parked vehicle in one of two designated spots.
The new “shopping experience” will be of particular interest to families and mothers with young children, Carl Fisher, Atlantic Superstore area manager of ecommerce for Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, said at the
Sydney River store.
“We’ve had some great success with the stores we’ve launched so far. People have really embraced it. It’s a great time saver for our customers,” he said.
It’s called click-and-collect and it was originally launched in 2014 and now offers the online order, in-store pick up service at about 300 of its stores nationwide.
It is part of the continued rollout
of online shopping at Atlantic Superstore locations across Nova Scotia since December. It’s expected all Atlantic Superstore locations and stores under the Dominion brand will offer the service by mid-May.
The Sydney River store uses seven senior employees to manage the click-and-collect shopping service fulltime. It meant hiring others to backfill their former positions, Fisher said.
Atlantic Superstores in Glace Bay and Port Hawkesbury also launched the online shopping service Wednesday, as well as the store in Antigonish.
The North Sydney store will have its click-and-collect program begin next week.
There is no smartphone app for now, so those looking to use the service must visit atlanticsuperstore.ca to place their grocery order.
“They’re currently working on a national app. Right at this point, there’s an app for Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore in the West, but they are currently working on an app for all banners,” Fisher said.
The online shopping strategy falls in line with other industries such as the fast food sector, which have allowed customers to order online and pickup in store for years.
Sobeys, which is the second largest food retailer in the country, indicated in January its plans for online shopping.
The company announced it had signed an agreement in Canada with a U.K. corporation, Ocado Group PLC, which would be bringing its online grocery ordering and home delivery system to this country.
Paul MacLeod, Sobeys vicepresident for store operations in Atlantic Canada, told the New Glasgow News last week the company is in the early stages of building their first “customer fulfilment centre” in Ontario to begin home delivery in the spring of 2020.
Sobeys currently offers grocery home delivery and store pickup options in Quebec and B.C.
“We will share more details as this plan unfolds. We have big plans to build the best ecommerce solution in Canada but will always stay focused on proudly serving our customers in our stores,” MacLeod said.
In February, Loblaws said it would begin offering busy commuters in the Greater Toronto Area the option of ordering groceries online and picking them up at one of five Go Transit stations the next day.
In November, the grocer announced it would also start home deliveries in Toronto and Vancouver through a partnership with California-based Instacart. All of this isn’t a fad or passing fancy by the big grocers, said Cape Breton University’s George Karaphillis, the dean of the Shannon School of Business.
“It’s definitely the way of the future,” he said, Wednesday.
Peoples’ priorities have changed and spending one to two hours each week picking out grocery items isn’t one of them, Karaphillis said.
He said it’s also a move to beat back the competition from online retail giant Amazon, which entered the grocery market last year by buying U.S. chain Whole Foods Market.
“I know Cape Bretoners who buy groceries through Amazon. They are dry goods normally, not fresh produce, but it’s delivered right to their kitchen door. It’s delivered by FedEx.”
Karaphillis said the competition for online customers is only beginning to ramp up in Atlantic Canada.
Fisher said he knows the competition will soon be “nipping at our heels” but Atlantic Superstore remains positive it will grow an online customer base in the coming weeks and months in Cape Breton.
One of the personal shoppers at the Sydney River store says her daughter lives in Halifax with a husband and two young children, who take advantage of the service all the time.
“She loves it,” said Atlantic Superstore employee Margaret Pickup.
“The hubby picks up the groceries after work and can be home an hour-and-a-half early.”