Seattle Launch of Safeway.com Moves Safeway Past Albertsons In Total Online Markets Served

Apply for a trucking  Job here with Safeway

Jul 16, 2003 - Safeway.com, the online grocery shopping service of Safeway Inc., today announced the introduction of service in the Seattle metropolitan area. Customers can now go online at www.safeway.com, register and shop for as many as 30,000 items found regularly at their nearby Safeway store.

Orders can be placed immediately and deliveries can be scheduled for as early as Monday, July 28, when Safeway.com begins delivering from five strategically positioned Safeway stores to households in 34 cities within King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. When fully implemented, following the grand opening of a sixth "pick" store in the city of Seattle on Aug. 11, Safeway.com will cover 115 total ZIP code areas in the greater Seattle area.

Customers can go online 24 hours a day at www.safeway.com, confirm service to their ZIP code, then find the same selection of products and prices available inside a local Safeway store. Customers ordering before 10 a.m. can get same day delivery, something not offered by Albertsons.com. Deliveries occur between 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The fee for full-service delivery at Safeway.com is only $6.95.

Safeway.com has hired 42 new employees in the Seattle area.

With the addition of Seattle, Safeway's online services, Safeway.com and VONS.com, now serve eight markets in the western United States, one more than Albertsons.com, its closest competitor. Safeway's online markets include: Seattle, Vancouver, Wash., Portland, Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles / Orange County, San Diego and Las Vegas. Albertsons.com does not offer service in Sacramento.
"We're pleased to offer our full-service ordering and delivery option to busy Seattle area shoppers," Mitchell Rhodes, president of Safeway.com, said. "We provide superior technology that lets customers tell us how to pick produce and meats on their behalf. We also employ and train our own delivery drivers to ensure that the customer's experience is outstanding every time they shop with us."

Gregory Sparks, president of Safeway's Seattle Division, called Safeway.com, "A great extension of the selection and service shoppers come to expect inside one of our stores, but with the added convenience of ordering online at a time that suits them -- day or night. And our delivery drivers are the best in the business."

Safeway.com in-store shoppers train extensively with meat and produce department managers at their respective stores before they pick their first order. Technology created by Safeway's partner in the service, Tesco PLC, the largest food retailer in the United Kingdom and operator of Tesco.com, allows Safeway.com customers to communicate personal preferences better than any online grocery service. When ordering, a customer can type a brief message such as "green bananas" or "soft tomatoes." That message is read by their personal shopper on the store floor and the shopper then picks to the customer's stated preference. In its existing markets, Safeway.com's customers spend more money, on average, on produce and meats than the typical in-store shopper.

Another customer benefit derived from its superior technology is Safeway.com's exclusive feature, "My Favorites." With it, a new customer registers with an existing Safeway Club Card and "My Favorites" creates their first online shopping list in seconds with as many as 300 of their most recently purchased items. This way, shoppers can begin adding items they typically buy straight to their online basket without searching. It's fast, easy and reminds shoppers of their favorite brands and preferred package sizes.