Food Lion adds grocery pickup at more than 100 stores

Food Lion today launched online grocery pickup at 105 stores in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Called Food Lion To-Go, the click-and-collect service enables customers to buy groceries — including fresh produce, meat and seafood, as well as deli and bakery items — at shop.foodlion.com or via a dedicated mobile app and have them available for pickup at a local store in as soon as an hour.

Though Instacart manages Food Lion’s online shopping portal, the supermarket chain uses its own trained personal shoppers to pick and bag groceries for To-Go orders and bring them to customers when they arrive at the store.

Items bought through the To-Go service have the same pricing as in its stores, and members of the Food Lion MVP Rewards program also can apply savings to click-and-collect purchases, according to Food Lion.

Credit: Food Lion

"We are so excited to bring this convenient service to more stores in the Food Lion footprint and enable customers to spend more time on what matters most to them,” Deborah Sabo, senior vice president of marketing at Food Lion, said in a statement. “With the Food Lion To-Go service, our associates become personal shoppers and are able to handpick the freshest produce and best cuts of meat, just as they would for their own family. We look forward to continuing to nourish our neighbors with this new convenient service."

Related:Food Lion plans more store upgrades in Virginia

Food Lion initially tested To-Go at three stores in 2017 before expanding the pilot to another 50 stores last year.

The service works as follows: Shoppers go to shop.foodlion.com or access the Food Lion To-Go mobile app and select a store based on their ZIP code. After loading groceries into their virtual cart, they choose a time window for picking up their order and then proceed to checkout. A Food Lion personal shopper accepts the order, prepares it for the selected pickup time, and notifies the customer when the order is ready to be picked up. Perishables are stored in a refrigerated or frozen space, and hot food and other fresh items are packed just before shoppers’ scheduled arrival at the store. Upon arrival, shoppers park in a designated To-Go space, and a Food Lion associate brings out their groceries and loads them into their car.

Available daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., the To-Go service costs $1.99 for orders of $35 or more and $3.99 for orders less than $35. Food Lion said the service is free for customers’ first order. Pickup requires a minimum purchase of $10. Beer and other alcoholic beverages are available through the To-Go service only in North Carolina.

Related:Food Lion readies store remodels for South Carolina

Food Lion offers same-day grocery delivery through Instacart to more than 300 ZIP codes. For orders over $35, the service carries a $3.99 fee for two-hour delivery and a $5.99 fee for one-hour delivery. Orders less than $35 cost $7.99 for two-hour delivery and $9.99 for one-hour delivery. The service is available from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Part of Ahold Delhaize USA, Salisbury, N.C.-based Food Lion operates more than 1,000 supermarkets in 10 Southeastern states.