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No Aisles, More Smiles?: Grocery Shopping Online Might Seem More Convenient, but This Consumer Found It Time-Consuming

Posted on: Sunday, 19 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By Donna Vestal, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Feb. 19--If not for the melted ice cream, single banana and lost order, Hy-Vee's online grocery shopping service might have worked for me.

After all, shopping online allowed me to control my impulse buying, focus on sale items and plan a week of meals. But in the end, wasted time was my worst enemy.

Maybe you -- like the dozens of others who use this service at Hy-Vee's 22 area stores in Kansas City -- would have better luck.

Because I absolutely hate to shop for groceries, I was eager to try out the service, which I stumbled upon while checking out grocery ads on the Web.

Ruth Comer, assistant vice president of communications for Hy-Vee Inc., said the chain has offered the service for nearly five years now but doesn't promote it.

"We view it as a service to people who are really in need of it. The majority (of customers) are shut-ins or are very busy and can't get out to shop," she said.

For a $10 fee, you can order your groceries online for pickup at the store Monday through Friday. And for an additional $5 ($15 total), you can have your groceries delivered.

My only option was pickup because I never know when I'll get home from work, and the time frame for pickup -- 4-8 p.m. -- was sufficiently large.

So over my lunch hour a few weeks ago, I got online and started grocery shopping. (First, I had to register at the site several days before and wait for my customer number to arrive via e-mail.)

You can order seven days in advance, but because I needed to fill my pantry right away, I had to place my order by noon for pickup that evening.

It wasn't too difficult, but it did take a long time to get used to the site. Before I knew it, my lunch hour had stretched beyond an hour.

With the week's Hy-Vee ad in front of me, I toured the store's departments at www.hy-vee.com . Clicking on a "Shop Aisles" tab, I was able to navigate through the bakery, deli, grocery categories and more. By widening the window, I could even see what was on sale. I loved that I could order bananas yellow, bananas green or bananas slightly green.

But I couldn't find some items that were in the ad. I used the search function with some luck -- coming up with the cantaloupe and deli meats I wanted. I also put in a special request for the Boston creme cake that was advertised but I couldn't find.

That's about as advanced as I went with the site. I did not explore the "Quick List" feature, which narrows your choices to the departments with items you need or the use of coupons, because I ran out of time.

With a couple more clicks, I put in my order, which came to a grand total of $104.87. (I should note that the week before when I went into the store I spent a lot more -- and bought lots of stuff on impulse.)

So far so good.

About 7:30 that night, I swung into the Lenexa Hy-Vee to pick up my order. After a little confusion (it seems not many people pick up groceries at this store), my order -- which had been stored in a cooler -- was brought to me at the front of the store. The groceries were nicely sorted and bagged, and the store had even come through with the Boston creme cake.

I simply wrote a check for the total that had already been rung through the register (now $110.49 with the addition of the pie).

My first surprise on unloading the groceries at home: chocolate ice cream that had turned into chocolate soup. A cooler, it seems, is not a freezer, and a four-hour pickup window means frozen goods won't stay frozen.

My husband pulled out the second surprise: a single, slightly green banana. I was impressed that the order was correct, but chuckled that I had overlooked ordering the right quantity.

In the end, I thought the $10 fee had been worth it. So a week later, I tried again.

This time I used the "Shop A to Z" feature and checked out everything in a more methodical way. Again, it took me at least an hour even though I was in a hurry. On the bright side, my bill came to under $80 because I cut out the frozen food.

But when I arrived at the store Friday evening, I found the biggest glitch in the system. My order arrived garbled on the store's fax machine -- turns out that's how the store gets the information from vendor HometownGrocer.com, not via computer. So there were no groceries waiting for me.

Not even a single banana.

Frustrated, I returned to the store Saturday morning for my traditional tour of the grocery aisles. It may have taken me another hour, but at least the trip included frozen food and a full bunch of bananas.

Comer acknowledged that the process still needs work, which is why the company doesn't promote the service. She said Hy-Vee is happier with its efforts at online ordering of catering, cakes and floral products.

"We think (all-store shopping) can be done," she said. "It's just a matter of refining it."

I think it's great that the service is available for those who really need it. But until the process saves me time, I guess I'll keep roaming the aisles and trying to control my impulse spending.

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Buying online at Hy-Vee

-- Orders can be placed 24 hours a day, seven days a week at www.hy-vee.com .

-- Orders can be delivered Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 4 to 6 p.m. Orders can be picked up from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 4 to 8 p.m.

-- Orders placed for delivery or pickup on the same day must be placed by 1 a.m. to be ready for the morning shift or by noon to be ready for the later shift.

-- You may pay by check or credit card if you have already registered your credit card.

-- The total amount you pay may differ due to out-of-stock items or substitutions, or if you order random weight items.

-- Hy-Vee stores also accept orders over the phone.

Source: Hy-Vee

To reach Donna Vestal, call (816) 234-4881 or send e-mail to dvestal@kcstar.com .

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

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Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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