Shop Save-On-Foods at Home for Grocery Pick-Up and Delivery

The fireplace is roaring, you’re snuggled up with a cup of hot chocolate, your favourite holiday movie is on TV, and without even slipping out of your blanket cocoon on the couch you have done all of the grocery shopping for your family, for the whole week. This is a blissful reality for many Vancouverites that have discovered Save-On-Foods’ online ordering system, for delivery and pick-up orders.

Save-On-Foods Grocery Pick-Up and Delivery

I recently spent the afternoon with Save-On-Foods’ personal shopping team at the Grandview store in Vancouver, fulfilling orders with team leader Jay Sahota. His squad is on the receiving end of all regional online grocery orders and with their trusty inventory guns, crates, and carts, they set out through the store several times a day to do your shopping for you.

Snaking up and down aisles with online orders pre-loaded onto the store’s mobile devices that track orders and inventory locations, these shoppers pick up everything in your order. Green bananas, ripe tomatoes, thick-sliced deli meats, low sodium soup, however custom your order or whatever special instructions you leave online, they will make sure your groceries are delivered just as you ordered them.

Personal shoppers in 10 participating Save-On-Foods locations in BC use the inventory guns, which map out their route in the store to ensure an efficient shopping time and also come loaded with your specific order. Any item they pick up and scan is either checked off the list or it will make a sound letting them know they have picked up the wrong item.

In the event that items are out of stock or they don’t have exactly what you selected, and you have indicated that they store may make subs for you, the personal shopper will complete the order for you in the most accurate way possible. If you indicated that you would like 1-litre ketchup but it’s out of stock, the personal shopper will sub for 2x 500ml and adjust the price accordingly.

“I like to remind my team that they should feel as though they are shopping for their own families.” Jay told me, asserting that trust is key with online customers. “It’s all about instilling trust to make sure the customer’s time isn’t wasted and that they get the very best quality out of this experience.”

How The Process Works

1. You go online and create an account; you choose your items (including any special product instructions), with a minimum order of $40.
2. The Save-On-Foods team shops for you, bagging up your groceries, securely storing them, and preparing your receipt. Items are stored in three spaces to ensure freshness: The eComm area for “ambient” items, a fridge in the back of the store, or a walk-in freezer. The delivery vans also have these three compartmentalized areas inside of them for your delivery.
3. After work or school, you can keep the kids in the car while you pull up to the pick-up lane in the parking lot. Buzz the team through a speaker system and they will bring your cart full of groceries right to your vehicle and load them up for you.
4. If you selected delivery, you’ll get your groceries direct to your front door during your selected delivery window time.

Jay recalled a conversation just last week when an in-store shopper discovered the service the personal shoppers offer. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you guys doing?” said a gentleman who was just starting to fill a basket with groceries in the produce department. Jay replied, explaining that he was fulfilling orders made online for pick-up and delivery service customers. “So what am I here doing my own shopping like a schmuck?!” The man asked Jay if he could just leave his basket with him, which he did, and he promptly returned home to watch the rest of the football game. From the comfort of his couch he then placed an order that afternoon to have it delivered.

Save-On-Foods has turned the average 1-hour shopping trip into a 7-minute online experience and the service is definitely picking up steam. Jay and his team alone have prepared hundreds of orders a week following the instructions of each individual customer.

The team of 16 personal shoppers at the Grandview Save-On-Foods is extremely efficient, and what took Jay and me 1 hour to complete during my visit (I asked a lot of questions, took a lot of photos), he could have fulfilled on his own in 10 minutes and started on another 10 orders.

Delivery windows are between 8:00am and 2:00pm, and 4:00pm to 10:00pm. If you place your order online before 10:00pm, you can get next-day delivery. For same day pick–up, order by 12:00pm and pick-up between 4:00pm and 8:00pm.

Keep your slippers on, watch the end of the big game, and save time this holiday season by letting Save-On-Foods, Jay, and his team do your shopping for you. Sign up now and discover over $25,000 in prizes to be won, including 20 $500 Save-On-Foods gift cards, free grocery delivery for one year, and daily instant prizes of up to 5,000 More Rewards points.