Trader Joe’s, with no e-commerce presence or curbside pickup, missed the pandemic-driven e-grocery surge and doesn’t seem to mind.
The limited-assortment grocer is also experiencing challenges because its smaller stores are harder to reconfigure for social distancing. Long lines outside locations have appeared over the last few months.
Placer.ai found monthly visits to Trader Joe’s were down 44.4 percent in April, 24.6 percent in May, 12.1 percent in June and three percent in July. However, August turned positive, up 1.0 percent, the first positive month since February.
“Amazingly, it’s done so while other brands who’ve struggled — like Whole Foods — remain down,” wrote Ethan Chernofsky, VP marketing at Placer.ai, in a blog entry.
Trader Joe’s ended a test of delivery in New York City in early 2019 because it wanted to keep product costs down. The grocer also doesn’t use third-party deliverers, such as Instacart.
On an “Inside Trader Joe’s” online episode from April 20, Matt Sloan, VP of marketing, acknowledged that the chain has received requests to add such omnichannel offerings during the pandemic but has chosen to invest in staff.
“Creating an online shopping system for curbside pickup or the infrastructure for delivery, it’s a massive undertaking. It’s something that takes months or years to plan, build and implement and it requires tremendous resources,” he said. “Well, at Trader Joe’s, the reality is that over the last couple of decades we’ve invested those resources in our people rather than build an infrastructure that eliminates the need for people.”
Tara Miller, Trader Joe’s marketing director, added that offerings from outside delivery companies and curbside pickup by other grocers “don’t always translate into positive results.”
The only other major grocer RetailWire found not offering delivery or curbside pickup was Grocery Outlet, the close-out grocer.
RJ Sheedy, president, on a recent quarterly call said that growth potential with physical stores and challenges replicating the in-store experience is keeping Grocery Outlet from selling online. He said, “Ultimately, our customers enjoy the in-store WOW! shopping experience, the treasure hunt, the value, the personal engagement.”
