Shipt, discussed previously, is a local company who has partnered with Publix to deliver groceries. Shipt recruited an initial 1,000 customers, who paid a (reduced?) annual subscription rate ($49/year) to beta test the service.
Shipt is daring to venture into the grocery delivery business, an endeavor that other companies have attempted unsuccessfully. To make this really interesting, their goal is to provide same day delivery and even delivery within one hour. Local readers understand the logistical challenges of covering our city and its many neighborhoods. For non-locals, our city isn't Manhattan, is not dense at all, and will send delivery drivers scrambling in all directions to various suburban neighborhoods, making the one hour delivery window seem impossible.
But it's good to dream.
We signed up for Shipt early and have been waiting for months for the email telling us we were on board. When the email finally arrived, we did a happy dance, and prepared to transfer our shopping list to the Shipt website once items were needed. We have now completed a couple of Shipt transactions, and below are my initial thoughts.
1) Shipt website: Overall, very easy to use. Every item on my list was located on the site. In the event an item is not listed, a shopper can add the item manually, and it will then be added to the Shipt inventory. A big plus is the special "BOGO" section. This was especially helpful to be able to shop for sales under the BOGO tab - even easier than remembering to check for these items at the store.
2) Price: Aside from the subscription fee (mine was $49/year), there is a slight mark up on each item. When time permits, I will check this more thoroughly. For now, the total was not noticeably higher. We asked our delivery driver how the pricing works, and she explained that Shipt is tax exempt (?) so perhaps the surcharge translates to roughly the tax amount which is pocketed by Shipt? Honestly, I'm not sure how it works, but felt only a slight increase in total. To be fair, I would have experienced the same increase if I had physically gone to the store with my three children, who happen to be superb shoppers, i.e., they would add more than a few items to the basket before checkout.
For couponers, there is no coupon redemption opportunity to my knowledge.
3) Delivery: A) When I placed our first order, delivery options were limited to next day delivery. Shipt is actively recruiting shoppers/drivers and will hopefully improve delivery times. Next day was not a big deal to me, but is less than their stated goal. Next, our first delivery was late. To be fair, delivery was scheduled the Friday of Memorial Day weekend between the hours of 4-5pm. A text at 4:20 from the shopper confirmed that she was an hour away (see above logistical issues). From there, she was incredibly efficient, commuting and shopping and then arriving at our home approximately one hour later than the stated time (which was no big deal at all).
B) For our second delivery, I placed the order in the morning and the delivery options began at noon on the same day. In the span of about a week, delivery times were improved.
4) Communication: We received several texts from our shopper. Aside from communicating her delay, she checked in about substitutions and let us know when she was on her way. She was very polite and was obviously hustling, even though we told her to drive safely and be careful.
5) Delivery: A driver and passenger pulled to our garage door and delivered our items to the basement door. I believe groceries can be delivered to the kitchen for an additional fee, but I caution against that due to safety concerns for both shoppers and customers. (I would not want my children, if the were employed as shoppers, entering homes of customers.)
6) Overall: Shipt is impressive overall. As mentioned previously, I am pulling for this company to thrive, and I definitely recommend and will use again.
Go Shipt!
No comments:
Post a Comment