Less than a week after Kroger upped the ante in the grocery delivery game, the second-largest grocery chain in the U.S. — Albertsons — is adding a twist to its delivery service to further ingratiate itself with its customers.
The advantage Albertsons is looking to create will come via DoorDash’s DoubleDash service, a concept that lets shoppers add items from another store or restaurant to their original order at no extra cost.
For example, if an Albertsons customer is placing an order and wants to add in some tacos from a nearby restaurant or a six-pack from a 7-11, they can — and both orders will arrive together, delivered by the same Dasher.
More stuff, more money
Albertsons was the first grocer to try out DoubleDash service, and apparently the company was impressed. DoorDash likes what it sees in Albertsons, too, and if it can convince the grocery chain's customers to add on additional peripheral purchases, that'll mean bigger baskets and bigger profits.
“The service could help DoorDash build its nascent grocery business by utilizing its much larger restaurant delivery footprint,” said Grocery Dive’s Jeff Wells.
“Albertsons’ shoppers that use DoubleDash will be able to add restaurant meals to their orders with no additional delivery fee or order minimum, offering an adjacent ordering option that is fulfilled by the same shopper that gathers their groceries." Wells noted that Albertsons is also offering meals from its Deli Marketplace banner through the service.
Meeting consumer demand
Albertsons realized early in the pandemic that delivery was a silver lining and aggressively moved its 2,253 stores in that direction, offering more than 40,000 grocery items from the chain’s various stores (including Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, to name a few) for delivery via DoorDash.
“We continue to experience significant increases in demand in stores as people have adjusted to the new circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company said almost a year ago in one of its quarterly SEC filings.
“There also continues to be a substantial increase in customer demand and engagement with our eCommerce offerings as a result of the pandemic, including both home delivery and our Drive Up & Go curbside pickup. We have responded to this increased demand for our eCommerce offerings by hiring additional associates, retaining additional third-party service providers and expanding our Drive Up & Go offerings.”
Making customers happier
If ConsumerAffairs reviews are any indication, the delivery add-on could make Albertsons shoppers even happier.
The grocer already averaged a 4+-star rating by ConsumerAffairs reviewers, and many of the reviews mention how good the company’s customer service was.
“This company is really into service and cares about their customers,” said Jan from Texas. “They have special shopping hours for those who are susceptible to the virus. They go out of the way to keep their stores clean and well stocked. If you need help of any kind they will assign or ask one of their folks to help you out. I don't think you can ask for a better community partner. Go to Albertson's and give back some of that kindness that they give away so freely.”
Another Texan — Allex — took the time to write about their experience at the Albertsons pharmacy in Burleson, Texas. “I will never go to another pharmacy because they all work so well together and my prescriptions are always ready on time, the staff always explain in depth and polite,” Allex wrote.