Loblaw will run a test on “click-and-collect” online grocery sales at three of its stores in the Toronto Area. Click-and-collect will allow customers to purchase groceries online, and pick up their order in-store. Click-and-collect is generally considered to be a more profitable way for grocers to sell food online, as opposed to delivering door-to-door.
Grocery Gateway, the home delivery service owned by the Longo’s chain, will no doubt see competition from Loblaw’s click-and-collect initiative. In October of 2013, Amazon began selling dry groceries over the Internet. Walmart may start selling groceries online as well.
Loblaw also plans on continuing to expand its in-store fresh food offering (including organic greens and produce), as it generates higher margins than other food categories. Loblaw will also introduce fresh juice bars into its stores. About 100 of its supermarkets in Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Quebec will have these stations beginning this spring. Several recently renovated Loblaw stores already have these juice bars.
