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SALT LAKE CITY — A local grocery store chain is launching a new service aimed at making shopping for groceries almost effortless.
On Monday, Salt Lake City-based Macey's officially kicked off a pilot delivery program designed to help customers who are short on time or have limited mobility to make it to the store to get the groceries they need.
Through Macey's Anywhere, guests can place detailed orders online and have them delivered the next day — all for a flat $10 fee, with a $30 minimum order.
"A guest can order the day before until 7 p.m. for delivery the following day," explained Jeff Callister, senior marketing and e-commerce specialist for Associated Food Stores, which owns the chain. "They just go (online), choose one of the (two-hour) delivery windows, and a notification goes out (when) the delivery leaves the store."
The pilot program initially will be available the Sandy and Pleasant Grove Macey's locations Monday-Saturday. Deliveries are offered to homes within 10 miles of the stores using a dedicated FirstMile driver and truck.
Established in 2012, FirstMile specializes in solutions for domestic and international shipping in the e-commerce and other direct-to-consumer industries.
In November 2015, Macey's introduced Macey's Anywhere and initiated same-day curbside pickup service that allowed customers to place their orders online and pick up their groceries that day. The pilot program was implemented in the chain’s five Utah County stores but has since been expanded to all 12 locations.
The e-commerce options are marketed toward families and individuals who want the added convenience of online shopping, Callister said.
"We're really targeting busy parents — the biggest group we've seen use this service — and the mobility impaired, people who can't get out of the house or maybe they just don't have a car," he said.
For now, the company will "test the waters" to gauge customers' appetite for the new delivery service, Callister said. If demand is high, Macey's may expand it to more locations, he added.
"We know there is an interest. People have been asking for it," Callister said.
Similar e-commerce programs are currently underway at nearly 40 stores across several other brands within the Associated Food Stores network, he said.
With corporate offices located in Salt Lake City, Associated Food Stores is a cooperative that supplies approximately 400 independently owned supermarkets in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.
"We're excited to offer this program," Callister said. "It's saves time, it's convenient and saves (customers) a trip to the store with little kids or the elderly or people with disabilities or (college) students that don't have transportation."
