The 小蓝视频ern Plains Co-op has expanded its online offering for its Estevan grocery store.聽
Carol McKay, the human resources manager for the co-op, said Federated Co-op Ltd. has developed an online shopping program, and 小蓝视频ern Plains signed up for it from the outset for the Estevan location.
Everything in the store is now available, including alcohol, and she compared the online shopping experience to walking down the aisle and searching for and finding the things they are looking for. 聽
鈥淧eople can go on the shop.crs website, and literally shop the store. All the products that are available, if you walked into the building, are available online, and you literally go through and pick what you want,鈥� said McKay.聽
It will then be ready for pickup at the time you specify. 聽
The co-op has been testing this system for a while, and it launched in Estevan a couple of weeks ago. McKay noted the staff has been using it as well, as they will pick out their products from the pickup spot at the end of their shift.
The response from the public has exceeded their expectations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 now overtaking the delivery service, where we鈥檝e got more orders coming in through the shopping online rather than the delivery option.鈥澛�
Young families, with the adults between the ages of 30 and 40, are most likely to use this option, which isn鈥檛 a surprise for the co-op, as it follows a trend they鈥檝e seen when studying statistics from other sectors.
The co-op implemented a delivery option for its customers at the start of the pandemic for those who didn鈥檛 want to go out and enter a store. The delivery initiative is still available for co-op customers, but McKay said the new online shopping experience would have happened regardless of whether they have the delivery program.
Online shopping is becoming a growing service for co-ops, and 小蓝视频ern Plains received assistance to get the programming in place. 聽聽
鈥淭hey have launched it quite successfully in other markets, so we just signed up for it, said it鈥檚 something we want here, and got in the lineup, and now we鈥檙e accessing and using it,鈥� said McKay. 聽
According to the shop.crs website, Estevan is just the third city in the province to have this option, along with Regina and Saskatoon.
Most of the co-op鈥檚 customers still come into the store to shop. The co-op is busy with those who still prefer to shop in person.聽
鈥淲ith Christmas picking up, we鈥檙e busy with that aspect of it and now that we have the online shopping aspect of it, that鈥檚 added a new line to us and a new service,鈥� said McKay.聽
She expects that shopping needs for Christmas have changed due to COVID, so people have opted for online shopping rather than dealing with the crowds.聽聽聽
A decision has yet to be made on whether this program will be expanded to their food stores in Carlyle and Oxbow. It will depend on how successful it is in Estevan, because there is a lot of work required with such a venture.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 very successful, I would think we will look at it,鈥� said McKay.聽
