Smart & Final Now Offers Grocery Delivery via 90% of Its Stores
Smart & Final is now offering grocery delivery from more than two dozen additional stores through its partnership with San Francisco-based third-party delivery service Instacart.
By adding 27 additional stores to the deal, the Commerce, Calif.-based retailer now provides home delivery from more than 90 percent of its heritage banner stores throughout California. New areas allowing for delivery within two hours or less include those around Baldwin Park, Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Coachella, Covina, Fountain Valley, Gardena, Highland Park, Laguna Niguel, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Dimas, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Stanton, Sunnyvale and Whittier.
Shoppers in these areas can now order groceries – including farm-fresh produce and a large selection of club-size items – for delivery to their doorsteps.
“At Smart & Final, we’re always looking at new and better ways to offer value and convenience to our household, business and organization customers,” said Smart & Final VP of Marketing Joe VanDette. “The latest addition of Smart & Final stores to Instacart’s catalogue will help our shoppers save even more time, while still having access to our large assortment of high-quality food and everyday staple items.”
Smart & Final first announced its grocery delivery platform through Instacart late last August, and has been expanded it significantly since then. During a late-July call to discuss his company's second-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2018, Smart & Final President and CEO David Hirz reported that Smart & Final ended the period with more than 85 percent of its heritage banner stores offering online grocery delivery, covering 97 percent of its market area.
"Growth in this channel accelerated in the quarter, with sales up more than 100 percent over the same quarter last year," Hirz noted on the call. "Average online ticket continues to trend considerably higher than the average in-store ticket, hitting a new high for the Smart & Final banner of over $80."
Additionally, in April, the retailer launched a mobile app to help streamline its ecommerce platform and operations. Among its features, the app lets shoppers save shopping lists, manage group carts, live chat with personal shoppers, and receive push notifications for order updates.
Based in Commerce, Calif., Smart & Final Stores operates 322 stores, including 195 Smart & Final Extra stores, 63 Smart & Final stores, and 64 Smart Foodservice Warehouse stores. The company is No. 20 on Progressive Grocer’s 2018 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.