Dive Brief:
- Albertsons announced Tuesday the launch of a new business e-commerce platform that provides local businesses with access to ordering for groceries and other necessities.
- The platform is now live at over 2,000 of the grocery company’s stores and is branded for each banner, such as Albertsons Business and Safeway Business.
- The debut of this platform further underscores Albertsons’ efforts to improve its e-commerce penetration by expanding its reach to offices, schools, local government agencies, community organizations and residential programs.
Dive Insight:
While Albertsons’ stores have long served local businesses, this new e-commerce platform gives them a dedicated service, Albertsons confirmed in an email, with features like placing tax-exempt orders and billing to support business needs.
Albertsons said it launched the business e-commerce platform to offer local businesses a solution for ordering snacks, beverages, catering, paper products and more, the grocer said in the press release. Participating businesses do not need to meet specific criteria to purchase through the platform and there is no order minimum.
Albertsons’ newest e-commerce platform is meant for a variety of businesses of all sizes and needs, from helping restock breakrooms to providing office catering or foods for students that meet dietary needs. Residential programs, for example, can use the platform to get food for live-in patients and residents at treatment centers.
Businesses also have access to same-day delivery, flexible payment options, a free business account, no online markup and online tax-exemption, the announcement noted. New business customers can also save $30 on their first purchase.
The e-commerce platform is live at a number of the company’s banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Star Market, Vons, Pavilions, Thumb and Randalls, per the announcement. Businesses can access the platform by visiting the relevant banner site, per the press release.
“Albertsons Cos. is well-positioned to meet the needs of business customers, so they can spend their time running the business, not errands,” Stephen Menaquale, Albertsons’ senior vice president of e-commerce, said in a statement.
For all of fiscal year 2024, Albertsons saw digital sales increase 24%, the grocer reported during its most recent earnings call in April. In its fourth quarter e-commerce transactions made up 8% of its overall sales — a figure new CEO Susan Morris said she’s aiming to improve.
“E-commerce penetration is still below our industry peers, and is one of our biggest growth customer acquisition and customer retention opportunities for 2023 and beyond,” Morris told investors on the fourth-quarter earnings results call.
Albertsons currently operates more than 2,200 stores across 34 states and Washington, D.C.
