If you have small kids or otherwise find it difficult to tackle the dreaded task of grocery shopping, you might consider online grocery shopping. More grocery stores are beginning to offer grocery shopping online and the process is pretty easy. We tested the online grocery shopping services of two large grocery chains and we’ll tell you what we found.

Online Grocery Shopping at Meijer – Curbside Pickup

Our first test was at Meijer located in Canton, MI. To begin online grocery shopping at Meijer, go to meijer.com and select a store location that offers Curbside Pickup – not all of them do just yet. Click Your Store > Select a new store > then scroll through the locations until you see one near you that says “Curbside Pickup” below the location name. Once you choose your location click the Shop menu and navigate the straightforward menus and searches to locate and add items to your online cart.

It was very easy for us to navigate the Meijer website to find what we needed. We found the easiest and quickest way to finish our shopping list was to simply type what we needed in the search box. As you add an item to your cart you also have the opportunity to add notes regarding your preferences. We learned that this was actually a very important step….

Picking up our items was also very easy. Follow the signs to the Curbside Pickup Location and you’ll see what

Meijer Curbside Pickup associates packed our groceries impressively neat and organized.

looks like a fast-food drive up station with a button and a speaker. Press the button and an attendant asks for your name. When they brought out the groceries our first observation was how neat and organized the bags were! They’re never that nice when you go through a traditional checkout lane.

The only snag we encountered was when items we ordered online were out of stock. This is where the notes on your preferences become essential. When something is out of stock and you haven’t specified what you are willing to replace it with in the notes the attendant chooses a comparable replacement at the same price. But they go over each item with you to make sure the replacement is acceptable. This can take some time if there are a lot of out of stock items, so our tip is that if there is something on your grocery list that you must have (a brand, size, flavor, etc.) make sure you specify that in the notes.

Overall our online grocery shopping experience at Meijer was very easy and fast. Even traveling 20 minutes past our nearest Meijer location to the store that offered curbside pickup was worth the time saved! Meijer charges $4.95 for curbside pickup orders – but again, if you’re short on time or have small kids this could be totally worth the cost.

Online Grocery Shopping at Kroger – ClickList

Kroger’s online grocery shopping service, which they call ClickList, was very similar. They also charge a $4.95 service fee but the charge was waived for some reason (it didn’t say why on the website but I presume because it was my first time or just for an introductory period). I checked again today and the fee is still waived so now might be a good time to try the service for free!

Navigating the Kroger website was not quite as easy as Meijer but easy enough. Unlike Meijer, Kroger makes you create an account and/or sign in before you can even begin shopping. Not convenient if you just want to see how it works.

Picking up your order was also easy, but instead of pressing a button you have to call a phone number so don’t forget to bring your cell phone!

My Kroger grocery order was very similar to my Meijer order but I seemed to have a lot more substitutions for items out of stock. The attendant didn’t go over each one with me but provided me with a list that I could look at while they loaded my car. I didn’t bother reading the list and there were a few substitutions that I didn’t really care for. And there was a glitch with the website and I ended up with 4 milks instead of 2. (I know I removed 2 from my cart twice but the website kept adding them back). As a result I ended up returning to the store later that day to return the 2 extra milks. I’m not sure why nobody thought to ask whether I meant to order four milks.

My groceries from Kroger weren’t packed quite as nicely and for some reason that really made a difference for me. Nothing was damaged but there’s just something about getting groceries in tidy packages that makes me happy I suppose.

Overall observations from our online grocery shopping experience

1. Use the notes section for items which you have a preference. For example if you ordered Horizon Organic Whole Milk for your toddler, tell them you need whole milk and prefer organic but don’t really care what brand if Horizon is out of stock.
2. Grocery shopping online cuts WAY down on impulse buys. For me, almost too much. I never realized how many things I don’t bother putting on my grocery list because I just remember to buy them when I walk by them in the store. You don’t have that memory jogger when shopping online so I forgot to buy a few things my first time. I now find it helpful to use previous receipts and to keep more detailed lists throughout the week leading up to my online grocery shopping trip.
3. I actually saved money by grocery shopping online. I was able to better compare prices and didn’t succumb to demands for impulse buys (from my kids or myself).
4. Even though I spent more time comparing and researching products when grocery shopping online, I saved time overall. I usually have a toddler with me and sometimes a preschooler so grocery shopping IRL is a very slow and painful process for me. In both tests I was home from my pickup about an hour and a half before I usually am from a grocery run. Even after adding in the extra 40 minute round trip to Meijer.
5. Based on my test between online grocery shopping at Meijer and Kroger, I feel like Meijer came out the winner even though their pickup location was farther and I had to pay the service fee. The nearest Kroger with grocery pickup service is less than half a mile away so when deciding which store to use going forward it will be a tough call. I have been using Meijer exclusively for several years now and am a member of Mperks, the Meijer rewards program, so that factors in as well. If my usual Meijer location which is less than a mile away had curbside pickup, Meijer’s online grocery shopping service Curbside Pickup would be a hands-down winner for me.
6. Meijer currently does not accept paper coupons when you shop online but you can use your mPerks rewards program and clip digital coupons. Kroger does accept paper coupons, but I didn’t use any so I can’t evaluate that process. You can also use your Kroger rewards account and clip digital coupons. Both stores take your rewards number when you create or sign into your account and place your grocery order.

Have you tried grocery shopping online yet? Did you like the experience? Was it a time saver for you?