Tracy Coffman (left), the e-commerce manager and Odesia Millner, a ClickList selector, enjoy the successful first day of Clicklist in the Fairlawn Kroger. Time-saving spurs innovation in the fiercely competitive grocery business.
Liz Kirchner
communitynews@ourvalley.org
The Fairlawn Kroger launched its curbside service, Clicklist, last week using technology to save time.
“It was a very, very good opening. Very positive opening,” Ken Shrewsbury, operations manager at the Fairlawn store said.
Tracy Coffman is the mid-Atlantic E-commerce manager rolling out the ClickList event on its first day. Her phone rings three times as she heads down the cereal aisle talking over her shoulder.
“It’s moms with small children who are by far the biggest demographic are who is participating with ClickList,” Coffman says.
Surveys identified that for the segment of customers who shop 90 minutes a week, ClickList service can save 20 minutes.
Kroger reports that young professionals, seniors and people who are mobility impaired may also benefit.
The store also imagines that parents of students could use the online service to order for their far away kids, keeping tabs on nutrition and expenses.
The store prepares a submitted order within five hours.
Meat produce, beer and wine can be purchased, tobacco, prescriptions, hot food and gift cards cannot.
In a blue ClickList T-shirt, Odesia Millner is a ClickList selector.
Consulting her handheld reader, her customer wants 93 percent lean hamburger, but leanness only goes up to 90 percent in a one-pound tray she tells Coffman.
Customers can allow substitutions in their online orders. Try over here at Laura’s Lean Coffman suggests.
“We trained in stocking to become familiar with the store and then for two days specifically in Clicklist,” Millner said, as she slides the meat into a plastic bag.
She is a junior marketing major at Radford University.
“The position is ideal for me. Very flexible,” she said, reading her handheld.
It is sending her to produce for ‘head of lettuce – large not small’.
Instructions to describe what a customer wants helps the selector.
Produce seems to be the concern for a lot of customers, so you see a lot of instructions for the produce department, Coffman said.
“It’s very particular how you want the fruits and vegetables. specific in their orders especially in produce,” Millner said.
She’s one of 10 to 15 new hires paying just above minimum wage in the Fairlawn store.
“That’s not the ending figure. They’ll continually hire for this location as volume builds and business grows. They’re probably still in the process of hiring,” Coffman said.
Millner also said she’d use ClickList.
“Because it’s convenient. I’m to and fro. I’m in school full time right now, so it would be very convenient for me,” she said.
Grocery store profit margins are razor thin—one to three percent, so they seek every opportunity to provide services to distinguish themselves from their competition.
Ordering groceries at lunch, sweeping into the Kroger parking lot and having them loaded into the car on your way home. What’s next?
“Home delivery,” said Adam Coleman, E-commerce manager for the mid-Atlantic division.
“You’ll see that expanded to more areas as we move through 2018. We want to open up opportunities for outside what’s inside – the beyond the walls of the grocery store. Items shipped or delivered to your home. Getting beyond what’s inside the store.”
Another innovation on the horizon is buying groceries is simply buying groceries as you walk down an aisle eliminating the need for checking out, which is often the time consuming part of shopping.
ClickList is helping Kroger get market share in the area and woo new customers who might have been shopping elsewhere.
To sweeten the deal, Kroger is waiving the $4.95 service charge for each customer’s first three orders.
“It’s another convenience at the store,” Coffman said.
Kroger has created about 15 new jobs at the store to staff the service. The jobs include associates who shop for customers, assemble orders and deliver groceries to customers’ cars at curbside.
• Customers place their order at www.kroger.com/ClickList and select a time to pick it up at the store the same day. Kroger requires a minimum of four hours’ notice. Customers may order up to three days in advance and pay online when ordering.
• A Kroger associate shops the store to fulfill the order. If an ordered item is not available, the selector will choose a substitute. If an item is not available in the size ordered, the selector will choose another size. Any changes will be wrapped separately, and the customer may decline the substituted item. If the item costs more than the customer’s selection, the customer will receive the lower price. The customer’s order is stored in a temperature-controlled room. Coupons electronically linked to a customer’s Kroger Plus Card are automatically redeemed to reduce the cost of the order. Paper coupons will be deducted at the time of pick-up.
• Associates deliver the groceries to the customer at a designated parking space near the store.
The entire process—ordering and pick-up—takes about 20
minutes.
“The feedback is terrific.” McGee said. “Especially among parents of small children, young professionals, seniors and people who are mobility impaired. Many tell us they are saving money by using ClickList.”
“Our customers are asking for the ability to shop when and how they want to make their lives easier,” added McGee. “Whether they are shopping with us in a store or online, we want it to be a simple, personalized experience that saves them time and money.”
The Radford store is the third location in the New River Valley to offer ClickList; Christiansburg and S. Main Street store in Blacksburg are the others.
The Radford Kroger is the 48th ClickList location in the Mid-Atlantic Division, which includes Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Across the country, Kroger has opened more than 1,000 ClickList locations since November 2014.
