LAKELAND, Fla. — Publix Curbside, a test of online grocery ordering and at store pickup , will launch in one Atlanta store Aug. 9 and one Tampa store in the near future. The selected stores are:
Publix Store #0773
Toco Hills Shopping Center
2969 N Druid Hills Road NE
Atlanta, Ga.
Publix Store #0754
Shoppes of Citrus Park
7835 Gunn Highway
Tampa, Fla.
Publix customers will place their orders online by visiting www.publix.com/curbside. Once on the site, customers will select their desired pickup location, specified 30-minute pickup window and proceed with order placement. Customers will see an estimated total as weights for produce, meat and deli items will fluctuate. Sale prices for the store that are effective the day of pickup will be honored. Payment is tendered at the time of pickup. No minimum order amount is required and a $7.99 service fee per Curbside order will be added to the total. As an introductory offer, the $7.99 service fee is waived for first time users. The site will allow for multiple shopping lists to be saved under the customer sign-in for subsequent purchases.
“As we continue to provide our customers with the service they have grown to expect, we need to provide new and more advanced ways to meet the needs of their growing and changing families,” said Maria Brous, Publix director of media and community relations. “Publix Curbside is a natural extension of our service commitment, especially for time-starved families. ”
Personal shoppers will select orders for customers using the service. If a customer does not have access to a computer for order placement, orders may be faxed directly to the store or placed on the telephone with a personal shopper. For ease of pickup, designated parking spaces will be available at the Tampa store and a dedicated drive-thru at Atlanta.
Conducting a test in two different markets will afford the company an opportunity to review data, look for similarities and study the differences. Publix has studied online shopping and home delivery since 2000, prior to the launch of PublixDirect.
Unlike PublixDirect, which launched in 2001 and closed in 2003, Publix Curbside allows for orders to be selected in-store by personal shoppers and picked-up by customers at their local, specified Publix.
Publix is privately owned and operated by its 142,000 employees, with 2009 sales of $24.3 billion. Currently Publix has 1,020 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The company has been named one of FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For in America” for 13 consecutive years. In addition, Publix’s dedication to superior quality and customer service is recognized as tops in the grocery business, most recently by an American Customer Satisfaction Index survey.
Source: Publix Super Markets Inc.
