Instacart and Loblaw Will Bring Groceries to Your Doorstep

Break out the fancy plates and crystal wine glasses—dinner parties might become a little more prevalent around Toronto.

Loblaw is introducing home grocery delivery to Torontonians on December 6 as it partners with Instacart to bring products right to a customer’s doorstep. The new same-day delivery service will allow customers to navigate to Instacart online or through an app and see groceries at their doorstep in as little as one hour.

Participating stores include Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore and T&T, offering a wide array of foods for users to test out. There will be a delivery fee starting at $3.99, scaling higher depending on how fast a customer wants their groceries, as well as a service fee of 7.5 per cent of the entire order. Grocery prices will be slightly higher than what is listed in-store at a Loblaw, though Instacart is working to bring the differences down.

The service is geared towards different kinds of shoppers, whether it be those who host large parties and can’t carry a lot home without a car, or those who can’t make it out of the house as often as they want to.

The launch of delivery for Loblaw is in direct competition with outlets like Whole Foods and Walmart, which have begun testing out their own methods.

Loblaw also recently launched an annual subscription model that gives frequent customers more rewards points, as well as pushing their Click & Collect service that allows shoppers to choose products ahead of time then show up and have the order ready. This is all in an effort to build out the brand’s online presence and establish them as a leading digital retailer.

According to a recent GfK report, services like click and collect are only going to grow over the next few years. Over one-third of Canadians (38 per cent) say they have used a click-and-collect service and 35 per cent say they will expect to rely on similar services in the future.

That study also shows although Canadians lag behind the rest of the world in terms of online shopping adoption, 23 per cent of the country thinks that their mobile device is quickly becoming their most important shopping tool.

This year has been somewhat difficult for Loblaw as they closed 22 brick-and-mortar stores, but the push for delivery and digital shopping will allow the company to reach customers in a way they never have before. The Canadian grocery giant also recently placed an order for 25 new Tesla Semis, emphasizing their commitment to the environment.