Kroger Teams Up With Walgreens For Grocery Pickup

To help customers retrieve their online grocery orders, Kroger and Walgreens are teaming up for an experimental program. Shoppers will be able pick up their supermarket orders at 13 of the pharmacy’s brick-and-mortar locations in the pilot, CNBC reported.

With the experiment, Walgreens also plans to offer a selection of private-label Kroger products to its customers. In an announcement, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said, “This concept brings together the best of two great brands to rethink convenience and redefine the way America shops for food.” Following the news, Kroger shares rose by roughly 1 percent during premarket trading.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Stefano Pessina said in the announcement that “this innovative new concept is an opportunity to test and learn, as we determine how we can best work together to further elevate our customer offering.” Pessina added that the retailer continues to bring in new ways of thinking about production selection and promotions “to deliver greater value in our stores.”

The news comes as Kroger has rolled out a delivery service dubbed Kroger Ship that uses third-party carriers amid its digital push through its Restock Kroger initiative. The offering was to debut in Houston, Louisville, Nashville and Kroger’s hometown of Cincinnati, Chain Store Age reported in August.

“Kroger Ship is our next step in creating a seamless experience that allows our customers to shop when and how they want,” Chief Digital Officer Yael Cosset said in an announcement. “Our new service is just one more way we are redefining the customer experience as part of Restock Kroger, bringing more convenience and options to shoppers across America.”

With the service, consumers can buy 4,500 private-label products from the retailer, which are not otherwise available online, along with 50,000 different grocery items and household products. The choices were informed by data from Kroger’s 84.51° customer insights division. As the service rolls out, Kroger is offering customers a discount with a one-time promo code.