Martin's launches online grocery shopping service

GRANGER — In an effort to stay ahead of national and local competitors in convenient shopping services, Martin's Super Markets has launched Groceries to Go — an online grocery shopping and pickup service.

"Today, more than ever, people live busy lifestyles," says Amy McClellan, vice president of sales and marking for Martin's. "People are strapped for time."

Customers have been asking Martin's for an online service for some time now, McClellan says, and it's been about a two-year process to roll it out. The company fully committed in January of this year to creating the service.

McClellan says Martin's hopes to start expanding the service to other stores in the next four to six weeks. The end goal for now, she said, is to have Groceries to Go in half of Martin's 22 stores.

Martin's isn't the first grocer to venture into pickup and quick delivery services. It's a trend many others have been following in recent years.

Amazon and Google are in a tug-of-war to dominate the delivery game, vastly expanding their Amazon Prime Now and Google Express services.

Google Express, which offers same-day and overnight delivery depending on the area, became available locally at the end of 2015.

The service offers a list of stores based on the area, which for the South Bend region includes Whole Foods, Kohl's, Staples, Toys R Us and Costco, among others. The order is then delivered to your door.

Cold groceries and produce currently cannot be delivered, but Google expects that service to roll out in some major metro areas.

Although not as widespread as Google Express, Amazon's Prime Now service also has been expanding since it was launched a year ago in large markets.

Prime Now offers a limited selection of goods from its warehouse, but for one- and two-hour delivery. The service launched in Manhattan, but has since moved to more than 20 metro areas with more expected in the future.

The services offered by Google and Amazon aren't the same as Martin's, but two major grocers are expanding the same pickup service. Kroger launched ClickList in January 2015, and the service has expanded to Indiana.

ClickList is not offered locally, but is available in Kokomo, Westfield and Noblesville. Wal-Mart also launched an online grocery shopping service, which is not available locally, but has been gradually expanding in larger areas across the country.

But is the demand for online grocery shopping driven by convenience or laziness? That's a hard line to draw, says John Talbott, a senior lecturer and associate director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

When it comes to shopping, consumers want to enjoy the experience, he says. Most people don't love hauling a cart full of everyday necessities up and down the aisles of a grocery store, he says, so if they don't like it and can avoid it, they will.

"I don't find it exciting to buy bologna, I would rather it magically appear," Talbott says. "Why would you want to do things that don't contribute to happiness in our lives?"

Martin's put out soft marketing materials recently for Groceries to Go in the Heritage Square store, but so far customers from the general public haven't used the service, says Christine Enyeart, online shopping coordinator. Martin's employees have been trying it out.

There has been a lot of curiosity from customers, though, Enyeart says, because a service like this isn't offered in the area. The interest shown also isn't coming from one particular group, she says.

Young working moms seem to be the most excited, she said, but they are not the only ones. That's why Enyeart is really interested in seeing the demographics of those using the service over the next six months.

"I think we are going to have a wide range of people who are interested, a lot of economic lines and age groups," she says.

Now with online shopping services trickling down from large, national retailers, to local stores, Talbott says, the convenience services will continue to grow.

"Very quickly," he says, "we are moving to a world where we won't see shopping carts and wait in lines."

Lincoln Wright's column runs on Wednesdays and Sundays. Contact him at LWright@sbtinfo.com or 574-235-6324. You can also talk retail at Facebook.com/thebasket and at Twitter.com/marketbasket.