Did I really say in the title up there that you can skip the grocery shopping? Yes! During this last month of the year we are all super busy making preparations for the holidays, decorating our homes, dealing with 4th quarter business, baking Christmas cookies or attending gatherings with school, work, family and friends. We all have different things on our plates, but it seems like the common factor is that everyone is busy. I find anything that can save me an hour or more to be a HUGE benefit. That's exactly what happened when I tried Walmart Grocery Pickup for the first time.
Walmart Online Grocery Pickup is a new way to shop for groceries. You just order your groceries online using your computer or smartphone, select a pickup time, arrive at the store, and a Walmart associate will bring your groceries out and load them in your car for you. Easy peasy! Oh, and I forgot to mention that the service is completely FREE! There are no service fees or price mark-ups, so we get the same Every Day Low Prices we find in Walmart stores.
Here's exactly how Walmart Online Grocery Pickup works:
I ordered my groceries from my desktop at Walmart Online Grocery, but you can also order right from your smartphone (more about that later). I was happy to see how easy it was to find everything I wanted. For most of my groceries I just entered a search term like “cream cheese” or “spinach” and all the related options came up for me to make my choices. I was also able to do some browsing. I knew I wanted to find some type of frozen meal because things have been super hectic here recently, so I clicked on “Shop by Department” to select “Frozen” and then “Frozen Meals”. I could then browse through everything available. I appreciated that I could click through on each item to get more details before making my choices. I also like that I can choose from departments throughout the store including dairy, produce, deli, meat, bakery and more.
Once I had all my groceries selected I just had to pay and select when and where I wanted to pick up my order. Pick-up times are available in one hour time slots starting the day after you're placing your order.
Then I was all done until the next day but I decided I would download the Walmart Grocery app (available for iPhone and Android). Once downloading I realized we can also order our groceries right from the app itself.
The next day I received an email that my order was ready for pick-up. When I was ready to go pick it up, I checked in via the app to let the store know I was on my way. The app told the store how far away I was, letting the pick-up associate know to have my order ready. (If you don't want to use the app, you can call when you're on the way for your pick-up.)
Once I got to my local Walmart store, it was easy to find the pick-up location by following the orange signs in the parking lot. I pulled into a waiting spot and waited a few minutes for an associate to come out with my order and load the whole thing into my car. I didn't even have to step out into the cold, which is a BIG plus during a Minnesota December!
The associate who helped me, Sarah, was SO nice and even showed me the bananas she chose for me to make sure they were the ripeness I preferred. She got it perfectly with nice yellow bananas with just a bit of green at the stems. I was impressed at how much care she obviously puts into selecting the very best items.
From start to finish the Walmart Online Grocery Pickup experience was smooth sailing and a huge timesaver. While I like the service simply because it saves time I know others who like the service for other reasons. I have a friend who suffers from anxiety and grocery shopping causes her a lot of stress. With grocery pick-up she can avoid that entirely. For elderly or disabled shoppers, the pick-up option lets them get everything they need without having to make their way through the store. For mom's with little ones they don't have to wrangle their kids while trying to get the shopping done. I think I could go on and on!
Check out Walmart Online Grocery Pickup and let us know what you'll be doing with YOUR extra time!
Joyce Brewer says
Although I haven’t tried it myself, some of of the in my neighborhood group are raving about their experience w/ Walmart grocery pickup. Makes perfect sense in this busy holiday season.
Louise Bishop says
So cool! I didn’t know they did this!
Christina Aliperti says
How did I not know about this? I need to see if my local store has this, it would save me a ton of time.
Julie Wood says
This is a really great service. I know a few people that are disabled and find it hard to leave their house to shop and walk around the big Walmart store for their stuff. I think that ordering the food online is a great time saver and they bring your food to your car already bagged!
Dandi D says
I wish we had this option in a Walmart close to us–it would be so convenient!
shelly peterson says
This sounds really easy to use and oh so convenient. 🙂
Kristie says
They are starting this at my local Walmart in January. It would save me lots of money because there would be no impulse buys. Just because something was a good deal. An associate told me they were going to have to rearrange the grocery section. What a pain! I love that it is FREE!! Thanks for sharing your experience and tips! Merry Christmas! kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you.
Sara Zielinski says
This is a great idea for large grocery trips especially.
Cynthia R says
Something has to give, I feel like I run out of time for everything. Plus I think this will help me buy everything on my list. I get distracted at the grocery store.