Albertsons Debuts Instacart Service At 40 Southwest Stores

Grocery store company Albertsons will be testing Instacart pilots in six major cities, including Dallas, Houston, Austin, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Denver, Supermarket News reported. The company said Tuesday (Aug. 24) it would be rolling out the features in 40 stores in those cities.

That will happen under the brands of Albertsons, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Safeway and Vons, according to the report. The new click-and-collect service is planned to happen in tandem with the company’s Drive Up and Go curbside pickup program, of which the company added over 320 locations in the first quarter ending June 19.

Over 90 percent of Albertsons Co.’s near-2,300 stores offer on-demand delivery of groceries or food through Instacart, Albertsons’ own delivery service or through last-mile providers like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Shipt or others, the report stated.

Albertsons also announced earlier this year its intent to shift grocery delivery away from its own service and more to third-party providers, and the company put the nix on its own home delivery fleet as of Feb. 27 in 10 states, according to the report.

Albertsons also unveiled plans in June to provide DoorDash last-mile delivery for almost 2,000 stores, the report stated. There are over 40,000 products available for delivery that way. In July, there was another announcement that Albertsons would be offering last-mile delivery at 1,200 stores from Uber Eats.

Albertsons has seen its digital sales grow more than 276 percent over the past few years, according to the report.

Earlier this month, Albertsons announced it would be overhauling its digital presence.

Read more: Albertsons Takes On Walmart, Amazon With New eGrocery Subscription

There will be a new app, loyalty program and eGrocery subscription service. The app will put rewards, online ordering and deals and promotions all in the same place. Shoppers will be able to view their previous purchases either from online or in the store.