Everyone has to shop for groceries, and sometimes, it’s the last thing you want to do after a long day at work. However, with the convenience of the Internet, it’s possible to get most of your grocery shopping needs taken care of with just a click of a button. Shopping from home for your grocery store items is a great way to get this chore done: It’s convenient, it’s a time saver, and many times it’s possible to take advantage of sales online that shoppers would not be able to otherwise.
If you think that this only applies to packaged or tinned goods, you’re wrong – many stores offer shoppers the opportunity to order fresh produce, meats, dairy, and other groceries online and get these items delivered directly to their homes or for an easy parking lot pickup. In addition, many products that aren’t necessarily found easily in stores can be found online; sometimes for a much cheaper price. Let’s take a look at a few of the most convenient ways to shop for groceries on the Web.
Amazon Grocery
Amazon is the largest online retailer today, and Amazon Grocery offerings span from beverages to meats to seasonal gifts and baskets.
In the past few years, Amazon has greatly expanded their online grocery items, giving shoppers the ability to subscribe to items they find themselves ordering on a regular basis (resulting in significant discounts for these subscription items), as well as the ability to order a wide variety of specialty items.
If you subscribe to regular delivery (every one, two, three, or four months), you can save a significant amount of money. This option is completely free and allows you to subscribe to items that you find yourself ordering quite often.
Amazon Prime customers can also take advantage of free shipping on all grocery orders that qualify for this offer, as well as any discounts that might apply.
FreshDirect
FreshDirect delivers fresh, organic, gourmet food to many different areas within the United States (just enter your zip code to find out if they deliver to your area).
Their online grocery items come directly from local farms and dairies, with specialization for people with kosher, gluten-free, or organic/natural food preferences.
Local Harvest
Local Harvest aims to connect people in their local communities with fresh, organic, farm to table produce and goods. Customers can find produce online both in their local areas and other cities nationwide; not all of the farms represented in their directory offer delivery outside of their local areas, but many do.
Shoppers can also take advantage of CSA deliveries (Community Supported Agriculture), subscribing to seasonal produce. Consumers can also visit ‘their’ farm at least once a season.
ShopFoodEx
ShopFoodEx has a large inventory (nearly 10,000) of grocery items online to order. You can also make lists on the site, take advantage of seasonal specials, and shop a limited array of warehouse (bulk) items.
Military families will appreciate that ShopFoodEx delivers to APO/FPO addresses. Also, when you spend $100 or more, the site will drop shipping charges by 33 percent.
WalMart Online
Many people have a Walmart in their local communities, and now with the ability to order groceries online with free same day pickup and delivery, this becomes even more convenient.
Shoppers can simply order the same items online they would order in a typical visit, and choose delivery or pickup.
GoBio!
If you’re seeking to stock organic and/or kosher foods, GoBio! is the place to shop online. The site offers organic, high-quality food delivered to the United States and Canada, with free shipping on orders over $85.
Watch for E-Specials, which change frequently. You can sign up for the email newsletter to track the specials more conveniently.
Safeway
Safeway (also known as Von’s) offers the convenience of grocery shopping online to quite a few areas in the U.S.; you can see if your zip is covered here. Shipping fees are extremely low, and there are a lot of grocery items from which to choose from.
Bonus: when filling your cart, there is a “Request to Personal Shopper” feature that gives you the ability to issue personal directions on specific items, i.e., “please provide firm tomatoes”.
MySupermarket
MySupermarket is a UK-based service that provides online grocery shopping for many different stores including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, and Ocado. You can compare prices instantly across all the stores that MySupermarket currently indexes, plus, MySupermarket offers you the ability to find healthier options for anything you might have in your shopping cart, a nice feature.
In addition, if shoppers need to purchase items for a specific occasion coming up (anniversary, birthday, work party, etc.), MySupermarket gives customers the ability to shop directly for items that can assist in planning the best event possible.
What’s your favorite way to shop for groceries online?
Do you have a favorite not listed here? Please share in the comments below.