Kroger expands online ordering to two major markets

Mar 31, 2016, 2:10pm EDT

Steve WatkinsStaff ReporterCincinnati Business Courier

Kroger Co. is building on the success of its ClickList online ordering and customer pickup service by adding it to two of its major markets.

Cincinnati-based Kroger (NYSE: KR), the nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, will expand the service known as ClickList to its Houston and Dallas markets this summer. It expects to offer the service at more than 20 stores in each market by year-end, a Kroger spokeswoman told me.

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Kroger has expanded its ClickList online ordering and customer pickup service to 46… more

THE KROGER CO.

That would nearly double the number of stores where Kroger offers ClickList. It currently offers the popular service at 46 stores in seven of its divisions. That includes 12 stores in Greater Cincinnati, where it began offering the service last summer.

The Houston and Dallas markets include a total of 214 stores in Texas and Louisiana. They made up Kroger’s third-largest division before they split into separate markets last year.

Kroger has 2,775 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Customers pay $4.95 per order to select groceries online and drive to the store to pick them up later at a pre-set time.

Kroger has said it won’t add the ClickList service in every store. It decides where to offer it based on the likelihood that customers will use the service on frequently traveled routes, such as between home and work.

Kevin Dougherty, Kroger’s group vice president of digital and Vitacost, said at the company’s investor conference late last year that the service is working well.

“We’re seeing continued customer enthusiasm,” he said. “We continue to like what we’re seeing.”