Online Grocery Shopping
Save Big When You Buy the Right Groceries on the Internet
Buying groceries online gives frugal shoppers another way to shop smart on the Internet
As if you needed another reason never to leave your computer—now you can buy nearly all of your groceries online.
Shopping your local store online
Many large grocery store chains offer online ordering of groceries, including perishables, with delivery to your home or pick up at the store. Not only is this shopping method convenient, frugal grocery shoppers may be less likely to fall under the spell of the artful display of impulse items that so often break the family food budget.
Safeway, for example, offers online grocery shopping and delivery for customers in areas ranging from Northern California to Washington, D.C. Shoppers who sign up with their residential address and credit card through the company’s Web site can shop by virtual aisles, check off items in their personal shopping history section or enter names of items they want to buy in an express option and let the site’s search engine find the products.
Grocery shoppers must buy more than $50 worth of groceries to use this service and delivery fees for online shopping range from $4.95 to $9.95. A caveat: Safeway doesn’t accept manufacturer coupons for Internet ordering, although the company does feature online specials.
Internet grocery shopping shipped by mail
The grocery section at Amazon.com features more than 22,000 items, many of which shoppers won’t find at the average neighborhood grocer.
Shoppers who buy more than $25 worth of items receive free shipping, although bulky items such as paper towels might require an extra fee.
To keep unit prices low, Amazon sells most of its items in bulk, which means you better really love those 12 cans to each pack of Wolfgang Puck Organic Chick with Egg Noodles Soup.
Keep a calculator handy to help decide whether you’re really getting a deal on that purchase of six boxes of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal for $21.12. At $3.52 a box, it’s not a steal. You're better off waiting for a sale at your supermarket.
The best part of Amazon’s grocery section is the selection of unique offerings, especially organic, free-trade and specialty-diet foods, such as gluten-free products. Want to try chocolate tea? Amazon lists half a dozen, including the delightfully named “Serenity Chai.”
Sam’s Club also ships some groceries, with a larger selection available to shoppers who order online and pick up at a local store. As with most of Sam’s Club’s items, you must buy in bulk. Prices are competitive.
Netgrocer.com sells groceries online with Federal Express delivery to your door. Unlike Sam’s Club and Amazon, you can buy individual packages of products. One drawback is the steep shipping rates, which range from $5.99 to $624.99 depending on the order amount and delivery location.
