Walmart offers online grocery services

Published 9:41 pm Thursday, June 7, 2018

Grocery shopping in Suffolk will be much more convenient now that the Walmart on North Main Street has added online shopping to its repertoire.

“I think it’s going to benefit the people of Suffolk a lot, mainly because it’s a free service,” said eCommerce manager Billie Broadbent.

Other online grocery shopping services charge convenience fees, but Walmart’s service does not add additional fees. Shoppers will pay the same amount of money as if they went in the store.

Email newsletter signup

Broadbent believes this service is great for working parents because they can order online, reserve a time and have someone load up the car when they arrive.

The service can be accessed on any device that allows internet, and the website breaks items down by department just like the grocery store does. It still has a search option to find any products consumers are looking for.

Occasionally, substitutions may have to be made, because products will go out of stock while consumers shop. Substitutions will happen in a couple of different ways, but they won’t charge the consumer more than they originally wanted.

The store will either substitute with the same brand and a bigger size or the same size with an equivalent brand, but if they substitute an option that costs more the store will pay the difference.

Walmart rolled out the new service Thursday morning, and they have had constant orders since the morning.

Walmart limits the number of curbside deliveries to 30 orders a day, but they can still have the option to pick up in store. By Thursday afternoon, Walmart had already fulfilled 79 total online orders.

Broadbent believes a large number of orders will continue in the coming months.

“We have customers that have been begging for the service, and they would drive to the Harbour View Walmart because they prefer online shopping,” Broadbent said. “We’ve had five customers change from Harbour View and come here already.”

Currently, the store can schedule three grocery orders an hour, and their hours of online shopping go from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Those that want to begin ordering groceries online can do so by visiting grocery.walmart.com.