Whole Foods is a grocery chain specialized in organic and natural food products. With its base in Austin, Texas they sell only foods which meet its strict criteria for being natural. Namely, no hydrogenated fats or any artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. In 2014 Whole Foods began a partnership with Instacart to create to create Whole Foods delivery.
Instacart is a delivery service available in 15 cities across the US. Whole Foods is now the first nationwide Instacart partner to offer both delivery and in-store pickup. In 2016, Whole Foods signed a five year partnership with Instacart. Thus, it became the exclusive delivery partner for perishable items from Whole Foods. Additionally, Whole Foods has invested an unknown amount of money in Instacart. This was in order further cement the partnership between the organic grocery retailer and the delivery startup. See all the details about this delivery system in the article below.
About Whole Foods Delivery
Whole Foods delivery makes it simple to have all of your organic grocery items delivered to your door, saving you the time and hassle of shopping as well as from those impulse buys which you might make if you were to actually go to the grocery.
Whole Foods delivery is done in partnership with Instacart in most locations around the country. However, there are a few individual Whole Foods outlets with other delivery partners. An outlet in San Francisco had partnered with Google Express, for instance. The Instacart/Whole Foods partnership began in 2014. However, both companies have worked on a smaller scale with other partners in the past and continue to do so.
Whole Foods was founded in Austin in 1980. They are among the most prominent national chains specialising in organic and all natural grocery products. With over 400 stores in the United States, Whole Foods has a nationwide presence. Furthermore, they have a number of stores in the UK and Canada. Despite a few setbacks, the company does continue to grow.
Instacart is a grocery delivery startup that with its birth in 2012. They provide third-party grocery deliveries in an ever-growing list of US cities. It is the first fully organic grocery chain in the United States.
Instacart has wonderful personal shoppers in Whole Foods stores. These employees accept and confirm orders through their smartphones. They then shop for the items and deliver them. The habit of relying on personal shoppers over having warehouses and infrastructure is a large part of Instacart’s success. That’s why they had the ability to expand so quickly to new locations.
Whole Foods Delivery Areas
Whole Foods delivery is currently available in 16 cities around the US, and is expanding to include more. You can check on the Instacart website by entering your ZIP code, but don’t fret if you’re not currently in a coverage area – because of the expanding coverage there’s a good chance that if you have a Whole Foods outlet locally then you may be able to avail the service sometime soon.
- Whole Foods delivery is currently available in 16 US cities, including: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Boulder, Colorado, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, San Jose, California, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
Whole Foods Delivery Times
With Whole Foods delivery, you get to choose a delivery window of one to two hours or schedule a time that will be most convenient for you. Generally if you’re placing an order for in-store pickup your order will be ready in as little as an hour so that you can pick it up from the selected location at your convenience. Regardless of whether you choose delivery or in-store pickup, you should be able to get your order in a reasonable amount of time.
Whole Foods Delivery Fees
Like any delivery service, Instacart makes their money through delivery fees, which are quite reasonable when you consider the convenience they offer. All new customers using Instacart’s Whole Foods delivery service will get their first delivery for free. After that, one-hour deliveries are $5.99, while two-hour deliveries are a perfectly reasonable $3.99. And frequent users can opt for an annual membership of $99, which will give you free delivery on all purchases over $35.
- Free Delivery for first-time users;
- $5.99 for one-hour delivery;
- $3.99 for two-hour delivery;
- $99 for an annual membership which gives you free deliveries on all orders over $35.
Additional Information about Whole Foods Delivery
Whole Foods has used other delivery services in addition to Instacart, and Instacart does make deliveries for other retailers – but the two companies signed a five-year agreement in 2016 which made Instacart the exclusive delivery partner for perishable items at Whole Foods. The Instacart model is a service-oriented one that relies on dedicated personal shoppers rather than more-costly infrastructure, which has allowed for easier expansion.
Final Thoughts
Whole Foods delivery makes it easy to have all of the items you love from Whole Foods delivered right to your door, which saves you a lot of time and makes grocery shopping a lot simpler. This also helps make shopping at Whole Foods more accessible as well as convenient – perhaps you live in a city with several Whole Foods outlets but don’t have any in your neighborhood; having the option to order items for delivery from a specialty retailer like Whole Foods offers a major advantage.
If you’ve had any experience with using Whole Foods delivery or are otherwise have thoughts about it that you want to voice, feel free to leave your comments below as it’s really important to see feedback based on user experience with a delivery service.