St. Louis-based grocer Schnucks announced last week stores in Jefferson City and Columbia will begin offering online home delivery service July 13.
Schnucks announced June 29 it expanded its partnership with Instacart, a San Francisco startup that operates same-day grocery delivery services, to make online deliveries possible.
The home delivery service will not add any jobs at Schnucks' Jefferson City store, as deliveries will be handled by Instacart.
Bill Allen, Schnucks Jefferson City store manager, said Instacart employees will shop for customers' orders and make deliveries. Instacart typically contracts that work out to about 4,000 independent personal shoppers around the country.
"It's going to be normal business," Allen said of how the change will affect the Jefferson City store.
Still, Allen said the store is excited for the change. Schnucks said in a news release that it hopes to make it easier for college students to shop for groceries.
The grocery chain began offering home delivery in St. Louis through its in-house Express Connection service in 1998. In February the company overhauled its home delivery system and made the Instacart system available to customers at stores in St. Louis; Rockford Illinois, and Evansville, Indiana.
Customers can shop online, filling virtual carts with their favorite products via schnucksdelivers.com or the Instacart app. They can then choose to have their groceries delivered as soon as one hour later or schedule a time for delivery within the next week. Delivery costs $5.99 per order, or shoppers can subscribe for unlimited grocery deliveries for $35.
The move follows similar actions by other grocery stores trying to adapt to the digital age. Hy-Vee customers can order groceries with free delivery on orders more than $100. Hy-Vee also allows customers to order groceries online for pickup in store using a web platform designed by Instacart. Walmart also offers in-store grocery pickup.