Albertson’s sees further expansion of online offering
Albertson’s Inc.’s Southern California Division is looking for further expansion of its online grocery shopping service to the more Southern California counties as well as to Las Vegas, which is part of the Southern California Division, David Simonson, president of Albertson’s Southern California Division, tells Internet Retailer.
Albertson’s this week expanded its online shopping initiative from its initial market in San Diego to Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties (See IR.com, Feb. 6). Albertson’s customers can have their orders delivered or pick up orders at 260 stores in the four counties. The San Diego online offering started only last October, but it generated results fast enough to encourage the expansion. “We determined six weeks ago to move forward from San Diego with online shopping,” Simonson says. “We’re very, very pleased with the overall results.”
Albertson’s fulfills all orders, even those to be picked up, at one of 15 centrally located stores that are larger and have more backroom area than the average store. Orders to be picked up are delivered from the fulfillment store to the pick-up store. Boise, Idaho-based Albertson’s has been testing online grocery shopping in Seattle since 1999. It started that test by fulfilling pick-up orders at individual stores but found the operation moved more efficiently if it fulfilled orders from a central point and delivered them to the store, says Fred Schuit, senior vice president of operations for the Southern California Division. Customers can choose from 16,000 products online vs. 45,000 in a store. Online orders have gone as high as $400.
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