Germs galore, crowded isles, long lines – is this scenario familiar to you? If yes, then your mental health might have been challenged at the price counter.
While this is therapeutic to some to take long walks and wait hours in the line, many seniors avoid these trips and want their groceries to be delivered at their doorsteps.
This has become a new trend due to the emergence of the pandemic that many retailers provide service of free grocery delivery for seniors. It is also recommended to do online grocery shopping to keep yourself safe from getting sick and avoid physical interactions.
Additionally, the online grocery option has brought much ease to seniors in terms of major challenges that they have to face while grocery shopping. Plus, it offers great deals for various savings.
Benefits of online grocery services
1. Convenient and quick
Seniors, impaired, and people with health complications often struggle to shop in stores. Limited strength and mobility, lack of family assistance, or fewer transportation options are some of the potential reasons that can make a visit to the grocery store complicated and sometimes impossible.
Online grocery, or grocery delivery service, gives freedom of choice to seniors according to their needs. For instance, seniors can schedule monthly or weekly grocery deliveries or for the same day. They also can make in-store visits for particular items and add them to be delivered at homes such as bulk or heavy items.
Other benefits of online grocery include quick delivery: Instacart, Shipt, Walmart, and Amazon Prime offer the quickest deliveries. Depending on the service and the location, your delivery can arrive within three to four hours once you place the order. You also can set specific time slots while scheduling your deliveries to make sure you’re not at your friend or doctor’s while there’s a time for delivery.
2. Coupon facility
When you select your items for online delivery, one or more discount coupons would automatically apply to your order. Oftentimes, these coupons show the discounted price during your shopping, else they are applied to the total cash you incurred at check out.
Automatic coupon facility helps seniors to streamline their shopping experience without getting into confusion about selection and applying codes at checkout. Additionally, it also minimizes the clicks that seniors often complain about.
3. Perks of shopping online
To attract people for more online shopping, grocery stores and delivery companies carry various discount vouchers and deals. For instance, a grocery delivery company like Peapod attaches promotional codes and free delivery service for first-time purchases.
Third-party reliable sites also give away promotional codes and discount vouchers. Groupon is a big name in third-party sites that regularly offers discounts and deals that you can apply to the online grocery sites and receive a good discount on not only food deliveries, but on general food items as well.
Certainly, the seniors need to stay at home and receive benefits from these grocery delivery stores remaining within budget. This is the easiest way to cut on general food items, household goods, and beverages.
Free grocery delivery for seniors
Online grocery stores may not be available in every area of the country for seniors. But some of them are expanding their service which includes Instacart and Amazon Fresh
1. Instacart
An online grocery platform that links you with the local stores near your locality with some major ones like Costco. You just have to place an order online, a personal Instacart shopper will visit the stores near your location and deliver it right at your door.
Shoppers are thoughtful, they will check the expiration date and the condition of the product before delivering them to your home. In situations where your required item is unavailable, they will find an alternate and contact you for confirmation if it suits you and is acceptable.
The main advantage of ordering from InstaCart is it’s super-fast delivery. You can even have your order sometimes in an hour. The delivery speed is boasted on the website as well with the appealing courteous Shoppers just right for seniors. To check out if Instacart is available in your area, visit the official site and track your nearest store with whom Instacart has partnered up.
2. Amazon Fresh
An Amazon offered service that specializes in delivering perishable foods, household items, and groceries. The service draws from whole foods along with other resources and generally takes 3-4 hours to deliver the online order. The delivery time may differ according to the size of the order and location.
You can access Amazon Fresh from Amazon’s official search bar which can be set to Amazon Fresh to view the groceries and items. Or just write Amazon Fresh on your search engine, and you will be taken to the home page where you can make your selection through different categories.
To use Amazon Fresh service, you need to first get an Amazon Prime membership which costs you $119 annually and $12.99 monthly. Plus, for Amazon Fresh, you need to pay $14.99 monthly. If you are unsure about whether to use Amazon Prime or Amazon Fresh, a one-month free trial is available to put you at ease.
Seniors who already rely on Amazon services can make the most of Amazon Fresh for some deliveries. On the flip side, if you are not a fan of Amazon Prime, then you might not have interest in getting an Amazon Prime membership just to use Amazon Fresh deals.
Which service to opt for?
Seniors these days have a variety of options when it comes to online shopping. What you choose for grocery shopping depends on many factors which include your budget, location, how quickly you need them, and of course, your customized choices.
Carefully sorting out things will allow the Shopper to grab items from a single store and bring them to your home quickly. To maximize your savings and minimize your order arrival time, make rational choices.
