Meijer serves up free pickup for the holidays

Heading into the holiday shopping season, Meijer has begun offering free curbside pickup for online orders.

Under the new program, Meijer Pickup service carries no charge for orders of more than $50 and doesn’t require membership, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based supercenter retailer said yesterday. Product pricing is the same as in stores, as is access to weekly sales items.

Free pickup is available for more than 100,000 items online, including grocery, general merchandise, toys, electronics, beauty care and housewares, Meijer said, adding that the service offers customers more convenience as well as extra safety amid the COVID-19 crisis.

“This is the latest of our efforts to adapt our digital services to help customers manage their lives during the pandemic and further enhance the experience of shopping at Meijer,” Derek Steele, vice president of customer strategy at Meijer, said in a statement. “We believe the personalized service, coupled with the freshness and wide selection our stores offer, provides the digital solution so many of our customers are looking for during these challenging times.”

Meijer Pickup associates manually pick the ordered items at stores and ready them for customer pickup within a few hours.

Through the Meijer Pickup service, a store associate hand-selects the ordered items and readies them for pickup within a few hours, Meijer said. Customers place orders online at Meijer.com or via the Meijer app on their smartphone, note any preferences and select an available time and store location for pickup. Upon arriving at the store, customers send a text and park in assigned area. Their order is then brought out to their vehicle.

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In placing pickup orders, shoppers also can keep track of their total basket as well as use mPerks rewards and coupons, Meijer noted.

Meijer currently is enhancing its capacity to prepare for the expected increase in orders during the holidays by hiring 10 to 15 team members at each store, Steele reported.

Because of reduced hours during pandemic, Meijer Pickup operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The service is offered at supercenters across Meijer’s six-states Midwestern trade area, making it accessible to nearly 11 million households. Overall, Meijer has 253 supercenters and grocery stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin.

Across the retail arena, curbside pickup service stands to be in strong demand during the holidays as consumer concerns about COVID-19 continue.

According to a recently released study by research firm Incisiv, and commissioned by Manhattan Associates, 85% of shoppers have significantly increased curbside pickup orders versus pre-pandemic rates, with 79% saying that contactless pickup is very important. Although 91% of shoppers said they miss shopping in stores, only 28% plan to step up in-store shopping, and just 5% plan to try a product in-store. For the study, Incisiv surveyed 2,510 U.S. shoppers who plan to visit a store for an in-store purchase, order pickup or customer service in the next six months.

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