By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
The motto at Acme Markets is, “Helping make your life easier.” In an era when people seem busier than ever, Acme wants to simplify things for them.
“Who wants to go grocery shopping?” asked Nicole Fusco, an Acme manager.
So Idaho-based Albertsons Inc., Acme’s parent company, introduced an online grocery service on March 30.
Now individuals in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties can visit www.acmemarkets.com to place their orders.
Acme officials are happy with the first month of the program.
“No glitches at all,” said Walt Rubel, Acme’s director of government and community affairs.
Customers seem happy too.
“We haven’t had one customer complaint, and we’ve had lots of compliments,” Rubel said.
Acme employees have heard good things about the service from senior citizens who can’t carry heavy bags, people whose work schedules don’t give them time to shop, stay-at-home moms who don’t want to take their kids to the store, and other patrons.
“They love it for all different reasons,” said Paul Moran, store director at the Acme at 1970 Red Lion Road.
Online grocery shopping isn’t new in the United States, but folks in southeastern Pennsylvania are getting their first real taste of the amenity.
Albertsons has had success offering the service since introducing the concept in Seattle in 1999. It later expanded to metropolitan areas in California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Texas.
Shoppers must register online first, then they can begin placing their orders. They can shop by aisle or alphabet and can take advantage of Supercard or other weekly specials.
As an example, they can click on “Green Giant peas,” and a picture of the canned good will appear on the screen. Various sizes and quantities are available.
To speed up the shopping experience, individuals can click on the “My Favorite Items” search tool.
“It’s a timesaver,” Fusco said.
Shoppers pay by credit card. They can pick up their order at any of the 56 Philadelphia-area Acme stores for a $4.95 fee or have it delivered to their home or office for $9.95. So far, about 80 percent of the orders are delivery.
Depending on the size of the store, individual Acme markets offer between 15,000 and 44,000 items. Online, shoppers can choose from the full range of produce, meat, seafood, party trays, cakes, flowers, health and beauty aids, and dairy and dry-good items.
“It has everything we offer,” Fusco said.
The prices of the items are the same, though online shoppers cannot use coupons, gift certificates or food stamps.
Online orders placed by 10 a.m. will be available for pickup after 5 p.m. the same day. Orders placed by midnight will be delivered or available for pickup the next day.
The service is available seven days a week, 365 days a year. There were even deliveries on Easter.
Orders are filled by so-called “e-shoppers” in an Acme supermarket, not in a warehouse. Temperature-controlled trucks make the deliveries.
Customers can be specific. For instance, they can order green bananas or ready-to-eat avocados. And they can be sure that the trained e-shoppers won’t pick a green pepper that is bruised.
The e-shoppers are also trained to check dates and pick perishables last. They will choose items that have a shelf life of seven days for dairy products and four days for meats, seafood and deli and bakery products. All meats are fresh custom cuts, rather than taken from the case.
“We tell our e-shoppers, ‘Pretend you’re buying it for yourself,’” Rubel said.
The e-shoppers have a printout of the order on a clipboard and carry a hand-held mini-register as they walk up and down the aisles. The device scans each product. There’s a plastic-bag rack attached to the cart, and the e-shopper bags the groceries along the way.
The service is so sophisticated that the hand-held device will not scan a product if it’s the wrong size or brand.
“It’s foolproof,” Fusco said.
Online shopping is just one of several new Acme initiatives. The supermarket is bringing 19 new Citizens Bank branches into stores. And the company is introducing “Acme Express,” a gas station adjacent to the supermarket. A 16-pump station will open on May 13 at the store at 1970 Red Lion Road.
Acme is promoting the online shopping service through radio commercials featuring actress Patricia Heaton and with the slogan “You click. We deliver. Easy.” on the sides of its trucks.
The service is geared toward all regular Acme shoppers, but especially toward people who live in an area — say, Center City or Gladwyne — where there is no Acme.
Albertsons will consider extending the service to the other 81 Acme stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
“Now that it’s working, we’ll look at rolling it out elsewhere,” Rubel said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com