Welcome to this special edition of Friday Favorites: Grocery Winners Edition!
If you’ve been following the posts all week, you are ready to hear all about the winners from the Grocery-Delivery and Grocery Curbside Pickup services. If not, well, you should go back and read my reviews about the various services and get caught up.
- Day 1: Introduction to Series and Instacart Review
- Day 2: Shipt & Burpy Reviews
- Day 3: Amazon Prime Now and Randall’s Reviews
- Day 4: H-E-B To You and Walmart Curbside Pickup Reviews
Okay, now that we’re all on the same level of excitability. 😎
Let’s get to it! There are 5 categories for grocery-delivery services, 1 category for curbside pickup services, and then 1 overall winner.
And the winners are …. (drumroll please)
Grocery-Delivery Services
In the category of Price: It depends!
I’ve really struggled with deciding between Instacart, Shipt, and Amazon Prime Now, and I decided I’m not going to label one a winner to wrap up this blog post neat and clean. Instead, I want to be honest with you. Instacart is great if you only randomly want to use a delivery service and aren’t in a huge hurry to get your items (i.e., can avoid busy fees). The delivery fees are generally low and your product prices are the best. But, if you will order at least a couple times a month from a service, then Shipt will be your budget’s best bet. Alternatively, you should use Amazon Prime Now if you have Amazon Prime (click here if you want a 30-day trial for just $3) and have a medium-sized order (exceeding minimum order amounts but not a huge order where the increased product prices outweigh the no extra fees savings). Clear as mud?
In the category of Service: Shipt
The Shipt shoppers I’ve worked with helped put their company on top in the service arena. There is truly no comparison and it was easy to pick a winner in this category.
In the category of Variety: Instacart
Hands down, Instacart provides delivery from the most stores. Plus, I (and likely you) frequent these stores – they aren’t random stores just to say they have them included in their services!
In the category of Ease of Use: Amazon Prime Now
Maybe it’s because I can probably navigate Amazon’s website with my eyes closed at this point, but the Amazon Prime Now platform is super easy and transparent. There’s no confusion regarding fees, delivery, or anything else.
Best Grocery-Delivery Service: Shipt
This was a close competition between Instacart and Shipt. Instacart’s variety truly is incomparable and their product are slightly lower, prices and that’s really nice. But, Shipt‘s clear pricing structure and level of service pushed them over the edge to win the this category.
Grocery-Curbside Pickup Services
Best Grocery Curbside-Pickup Service: H-E-B
H-E-B is my “go-to” store, so Walmart had an uphill battle to be honest. H-E-B carries more of the brands of products I regularly buy. Plus, I can get all of my groceries through H-E-B’s pickup service and that’s just not the case for Walmart’s service because I don’t like their produce and meat selection as much. The decision was also fairly easy after the substitutions missed the mark at Walmart. I ordered much more from H-E-B’s curbside service and there were no substitutions. I think that alone says a lot. Plus, I have a feeling their shoppers would be better at picking appropriate substitutions.
And, what we’ve all been waiting for …
Overall Grocery Service Winner: Shipt
I’m so glad I looked into Shipt for this blog post. The grocery service industry is fairly new and there is much competition out there. I didn’t know much about Shipt beforehand and I really can’t say enough how impressed I was with their level of customer service and easy-to-understand pricing structure. I wish they were more transparent with their pricing on their website before you give them your personal information. And their product prices aren’t the best. However, for about $8/ month you can get anything delivered to your house (plus tip and the few extra dollars that adds up with the slightly higher prices). Instacart came in at a close second.
I REALLY hope they are adding more stores in Austin to their list of partner stores (and I’m jealous of those of you who live in an area that can also have Central Market delivered by Shipt). But, to be honest, I shop at H-E-B and Target probably 90 percent of the time. Instacart has the variety if I want it (at a nominal per-use fee) and I still might use it at some point. But, for now, I’m sticking with Shipt. Hey Shipt, add Target to your list of stores and you’ll make me the happiest girl in the world.
Are you surprised with the winners? Do you disagree? Chime in with your feedback – we’d all love to hear some tips about how to best use these services!
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