Here’s a quick review of Instacart, Vons, Amazon Fresh, Pinkdot and Spud Grocery Delivery Services

My goal here is two fold. One being, can I simplify my grocery shopping process as I am an entrepreneur trying to save time and energy. Can I return to ordering online, like I attempted to with a company like Spuds that I discovered in 2009, but at a lower cost, quicker delivery time and expanded grocery items list?

My initial idea was to discover how each grocery delivery platform worked and which worked best for me (my schedule, my grocery shopping habits, and for my location in Los Angeles. It’s also available in other major metros like Seattle, Austin, NYC, Denver, & Portland). To be quite honest, I was already geared up to be hooked on Amazon Fresh, but surprisingly of the five different grocery delivery options (Amazon Fresh, Insatcart, Pinkdot, Vons, and Spud) I discovered that Instacart was my absolute favorite.  Below is a list of 5 features that I love about Instacart.

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Top 5 Features To Love about Grocery Delivery with Instacart

  1.  The toggle feature allows you to comparison shop
  2.  The simple fact that you can get groceries delivered while … you work, take care of a party, family or do whatever… all as if they were your personal assistant on call.
  3.  The checkout process is easy and can help you discover comparable items.
  4.  Forget about the random purchases… sticking to your list and budget never got easier
  5.  Shopping more than one store at once on this App (or website) eliminates the need for driving to multiple stores, waiting in multiple lines and knowing exactly what store has what and at what cost.

 

Ordering through the App vs. the Website

When you begin the sign-up with Instacart you are prompted to put in your zip code so that the app knows which stores are participating for delivery in your area. My initial interaction was with the app but I later discovered that the website was my favorite way for me to shop because of the larger screen size. What I mean is that the desktop shopping experience makes the “toggling” between different stores much easier, (where I can comparison shop my preferred products from each store available in my area). But if I was on the go and knew what I needed to buy, then the app will do. In fact the first time I ordered through the app I was on my way home and I was happily met with my groceries by the time I got home. It was great.

 

More reasons to love Instacart!

1. I can easily re-order through my past purchases.
2. I can get the best deal with comparison pricing.
3. I can dedicate secondary options if the item is out of stock.
4. I can upload a photo for a specific item I must have.
5. I get a phone call anytime the delivery guy/gal has to replace an item with a secondary item.
6. I never have to get in my car to drive from store to store (since I tend to purchase certain items from Ralphs/Vons that I may not find at Whole Foods).
7. Same Day Delivery within hours.

I have had a few issues with the delivery. I had a wrong item purchased twice: I ordered Italian parsley and I got the curly parsley, but I was refunded after a quick email. I also received the wrong chips but I ended up keeping them since I liked them anyway. Also I was charged a higher delivery (7.99) when I should have been charged the 3.99 delivery fee when my grocery list exceeded 35.00.

I highly recommend the Instacart Express  Since I think this may become my new way of grocery shopping on a regular basis, I am going to sign-up for the membership which is $99 for free delivery on orders over 35.00 for the entire year. At this point I am sure I have spent approx.$40 in deliver already.

My only suggestions for the Instacart platform (App and Website) are 1. Include tip in the pricing and 2. Please do not ever start applying surge pricing.

See more about Instacart, the company here: http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/instacart

And see their current areas of service: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Boulder, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose, Seattle & Washington D.C. areas (but check back here to see if they add more locations of service: https://www.instacart.com/store/faq)

Here are pros and cons for the other delivery services we tried out. (Their “Pros” might just meet your needs to try them out for yourself).

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Amazon: https://fresh.amazon.com

 

If you’re an existing and very regular amazon shopper already it would be worth you grocery shopping if you do not mind getting groceries a day later every once and a while (that is if you order after 10am).

Pros: Since I am a huge fan and existing purchaser of Amazon I was excited to try Amazon Fresh.

The best aspects of shopping amazon fresh:

• You use your existing login, so there’s no need to create yet another login and passcode to remember
• You could use all of your existing amazon.com features (address book, methods of payments)
• You can view your purchase history.
• There is the option for “un-attended/doorstep delivery,” as 3 hr. window timeslot, or attended delivery of a 1hr timeslot.

Cons: I got turned off from the Amazon Prime since, although I got a free month trial, I was not willing to risk going past my 30 day trial and cancelling to test out the service since it amounted to a $299 dollar annual fee. Yes it seems to be true that the $299 amazon prime delivery provides free delivery on purchase over $35 (*same day only if ordered by 10am) and free two day on the regular amazon.com shopping platform, and yes maybe it would add up to the discount I would save in groceries over a year, but that kind of upfront fee just hits anyone a bit hard.

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Vons: http://shop.safeway.com/ecom/home?brandid=2

I was excited to try out the Vons grocery-shopping platform since I tend to mainly shop at 3 stores (Trader Joes, Whole Foods and Vons). I usually purchase items like cleaning supplies, coco-cola and other more name brand items from Vons. SO I figured I would shop at Insatcart for certain items and maybe do a quick shorter list for my Vons grocery delivery. However I ended up abandoning my cart because the delivery time was a day later. And with Instacart having similar products and being available for delivery within a hour to 2 hours, Vons didn’t measure up.

Pros:

• You can shop by: History (where you can reorder previous products easily, or complete a shopping list that you create and save), or by aisle as if your where shopping in the store checking out the available products in certain aisles.
• Easy to apply discounts: The Vons grocery delivery online platform has a “online Savings” page where you can apply discount like a Vons Club Membership, promo codes and promotional sale items. (If you have a Vons Club Card then you can continue taking advantages of the discounts).

Cons:

• I abandoned my cart because the delivery times may not always be within the same day. With this it was a sort of “no-brainer” to go back to Instacart that allowed for delivery within 2 hours and had similar grocery items from the local Ralphs.

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Pinkdot: http://www.pinkdot.com or http://www.247waiter.com/restaurant/pink-dot/

I also tried Pinkdot, the local service and easy as it may have been it really is not for a regular type of grocery shopping experience.

Pros: If you’re hosting a party (in the Los Angeles area see delivery locations here http://www.pinkdot.com/locations.php) and ran out of the much needed party supplies, namely alcoholic beverages, then this place is where you would call. It caters to more of the deli delivery, last minute grocery delivery and alcohol delivery. I would bet that most of their business is alcohol delivery and deli lunch or dinner deliveries.

• Easy alcohol delivery
• Online Platform is easy to shop and search.
• If you are ordering online it is free with a minimum $25 purchase, you just tip the driver.
• You can purchase and specify a “later” time for delivery or “ASAP”

Cons:

• If you are interested in the overall grocery shopping along with you wine/spirits needs this may be way too expensive.
• If you call to ask questions and order over the phone you will be charged a fee (approx. $4).
• Only local to a few Los Angeles Area cities see delivery locations here http://www.pinkdot.com/locations.php

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Spuds (Sustainable Produce Delivery): http://www.spud.com/about/whatsnew.cfm?LID=6http://www.spud.com/about/whatsnew.cfm?LID=6

I guess I couldn’t finish this review without going back to my original attempt at grocery delivery, which was with Spud.com in 2008. The only difference is that back then I was a little more into the delivery for the buy local effort than out of convenience, like now.

Since I hadn’t revisited it since 2008. So it took a lot of remembering my email/passcode, resetting the passcode, and then I finally updated my preferences for the “My Harvest Box” and tried to check out. I didn’t mind updating my credit card but then I realized I need to update my address. However the only 2 ways to up date them were to actually call them or email them. Thus, I abandoned my cart because yet again I rather just use Instacart for my groceries that I could purchasing from Wholefoods through the Instacart platform

Pros:

• If you are interested in shopping or incorporating more local (Los Angeles Area/ San Francisco and Bay area or a few Canada Locations) and/or organic produce then this is a great place to grocery shop.
• The novelty of discovering new items, including the produce that may arrive in your “My Harvest Basket”
• Shopping is a bit more novel. They have recipes available for suggestions and with one-click you can add all the items necessary for the recipe.
• You can create your preferences for a weekly harvest box full produce. You can choose how often you would like every specific produce item from always to never and based on availability (season and local growth).
• Spud has a wide variety of grocery items. You can find many of the all-natural, organic, and health conscience grocery items that one would find in a local mom-and –pop health food store or at Whole Foods.

Cons:

• You must be invested in checking your existing produce supply to update your produce “My Harvest Basket” before the delivery goes. You don’t want too many bananas that could go bad on you.
• The updating you delivery address is not easy (nor user-friendly) If you could update your credit card easily I am not sure why one would have to call or email to update for an address delivery update.
• Delivery is not the same-day. It is more like an automatic 2-day delivery.

I hope you found this review to be helpful. Comment below if you’d like to know more.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

 

 

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