Meijer, Hy-Vee expand alcohol delivery through DoorDash

Dive Brief:

Hy-Vee and Meijer have started offering alcohol delivery in select states through DoorDash, according to an emailed press release last week.
On DoorDash, customers in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio can now order through Meijer’s standalone beer, wine and spirits store, while shoppers in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska can order alcohol from Hy-Vee’s grocery locations.
All of Meijer’s alcohol stores are available on DoubleDash, which allows customers to shop multiple stores in one order. DoorDash is allowing shoppers to add alcohol from Hy-Vee to their Meijer grocery orders.

Dive Insight:

The announcement not only expands alcohol delivery for Hy-Vee and Meijer, but also furthers DoorDash's efforts to build high-value mixed baskets.

Alcohol is a lucrative category for both grocers and e-commerce services to tap into. Online orders of all alcohol types – including hard cider, alcohol, wine and beer grew more than 100% from January to June of this year compared to the same period in 2020, according to DoorDash's trends report. Alcohol purchases on DoorDash can increase merchant subtotals up to 30%, the company noted in the announcement.

Meijer Beer, Wine & Spirits storefront on DoorDash

Courtesy of DoorDash

As alcohol delivery regulations have loosened up during the pandemic, grocers have eagerly poured money into making their wine, beer and liquor selections available to online shoppers. Last month, Meijer started offering same-day alcohol delivery from 180 of its stores on Instacart. Retailers including Target and Walmart have also expanded alcohol availability online in recent months.

In September, DoorDash announced it had started offering on-demand alcohol delivery and pickup on its marketplace in 20 states and Washington, D.C., as well as in Canada and Australia. To deepen its grocery store clients, DoorDash is exploring dark store services and preparing to offer rapid delivery to retailers.

Allowing the mixed basket of Hy-Vee alcohol with Meijer groceries and Meijer’s alcohol stores on DoubleDash builds on DoorDash’s efforts to allow customers to bundle orders. The company launched DoubleDash in August, and about a month later revealed Albertsons had started piloting the service to let shoppers add a local restaurant meal to their grocery order.

The announcement strengthens DoorDash's position as it competes with Instacart, which recently said its alcohol delivery service reaches nearly 75% of total U.S. households.

Along with the Hy-Vee and Meijer alcohol news, DoorDash also announced last week that it has partnered with convenience store chain Sheetz to offer on-demand delivery from 560 locations across Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.