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After trying out the new service at my local grocery store, I decided to write up a Kroger Clicklist Review.  I was not compensated for this post at all, but I thought others might benefit from reading about my experience.  Get all the nitty gritty details here!

Kroger Clicklist lets you order all your groceries online from the comfort of home.  Then you pickup your groceries without ever leaving your car.

This type of service is becoming popular around the United States.  So do some research to see if your local grocery stores provide it yet!

Clicklist has gone through some big changes since it was first introduced in 2016.  (In fact, they are now calling it Kroger Pickup instead of Clicklist.)

Is it right for you?

Here’s how to decide.

Here’s A Totally Honest Kroger Clicklist Review

If you hate grocery shopping, grocery pickup services could be the perfect answer for you! Check out this Kroger Clicklist review.

We are always busy, but some weeks are even busier than others. 

I was talking about making a late night grocery shopping trip with my Hubby.  I hated to do it, since I’ve not been sleeping well lately, but there just wasn’t time during the day.

He suggested trying out the new service offered by our local grocery store.  You shop online, then go to the store and they put all the groceries you ordered right into your car.  

No need to chase kids through the store or lug a heavy shopping cart from one end of the store to the other.

I thought it was certainly worth trying!

How Kroger Clicklist Works

Start Your List

I already had a Kroger.com account linked to my Kroger card for digital coupons, so I just signed in as usual.  

If  you don’t have an account, it’s free to sign up.  You’ll want to link your Kroger card to your account for the most savings.

Right on Kroger’s home page, you should find options to add items to your online cart.

But if not, you can always click the menu, click “Ways To Shop”.  Then choose Pickup.

Assuming that you regularly use your Kroger card, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to shop.  Since I like to keep life simple, I have a long list of items I buy every time I go to the store.

The first thing you’ll see is the “Start My Cart” line.  That’s filled with things you’ve bought either often or in the past few trips.

So if you always buy bananas, you’ll probably see that right away.  Just click “Add to Cart” and choose the number you want.

The next line down is “My Recent Purchases”.  This line was good for the things you buy less often, or seasonally.

Below that I found another line titled “My Sale Items”.  Always a frugal favorite!

You’ll probably want to check out this list of the cheapest groceries you can buy.  It includes a meal plan that lets you feed your family of 4-6 on just $75 a week!

Your Whole Grocery List

Once I had my main grocery list done, I looked over my menu plan.  Any things I needed that weren’t already in my cart were pretty easy to add.

I just scrolled to the top and typed in what I needed.  It pops up some options and you choose what you want.

You can also choose items from the “Department” drop down menu to add items.

Complete Your Order

Once you complete your order, you’ll have a chance to look it over and make sure that everything is correct.  You’ll also have the option to allow them to substitute for items that are out of stock.

If you’re family is particular about certain brands or flavors, you can uncheck that option.

I suggest you let them offer you substitutes for everything.  You can always decline them.

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Substitutions

When I picked up my order, they had substituted a few things.  For instance, I ordered a 40 oz bottle of barbecue sauce.  

They were out of that, so they gave me an 80 oz bottle of the same brand at the lower 40 oz price.  

So you can see why I’m a fan of letting them substitute stuff.

When you get to the store, they will show you all substitutions.  You can always decline them.  You never pay for items they don’t have.

Pick Up

Next, you’ll choose a pickup time.  Most stores offer same day pickup if you place your order early enough. 

Or you can choose an hour that works best for you within the next 7 days.

You will enter your credit card number when you order.  They charge this card once you pick up your groceries.

Sometimes a larger hold will be placed on your card than what you expected.  Be aware of that!

One Important Note:

The website is not clear on this, and it caused me a bit of headache.  The workers shop on the day that you pickup your order.  

That means that you’ll pay whatever price your items are on the day you pickup.

Here’s why that can cause problems:

The prices you see on the website are estimates.  They give you the sales price for the day you are shopping online.  

So if you are online shopping on Tuesday, the site displays the Tuesday sale prices.

The trouble here is that my store switches to a new sales flyer on Wednesday.  So if I click on Tuesday and they shop on Wednesday, then I end up paying Wednesday prices when I pickup.

So that awesome deal on Tuesday might not be so awesome on Wednesday.

The trouble is that there is no way of knowing what prices will still be good on Wednesday by looking at their website. I’ve been told the company is still looking into this.

If shopping sales is important to you, don’t place orders across sales dates.  

If your store’s sale runs from Sunday to Saturday, don’t online shop on Saturday and pick it up on Sunday or later.  Just wait and place your order on Sunday for more accurate prices.

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Go Get It!

Be sure to show up at the store during the hour that you promised to show up.  If not, you risk losing your entire order and having to start over again.

Once you arrive at the store, look for blue signs that say Kroger Pickup.  They’ll point you to the pickup zone.

At the pickup zone, you’ll find a phone number to call and let them know that you’ve arrived.  A worker will come to your car to review your order. 

Digital coupons work as usual.  They do accept paper coupons, but it will take a little longer to check out if you use them. 

And if you aren’t using the Fetch app, download it right now!  You get free gift cards (my favorite is Amazon) just for taking pictures of your receipts.  (You’ll love it, I promise.)

Then the workers will load your car for you.  They even brought my bread up to the front window so it wasn’t squished!

Don’t tip the workers.  (In fact, they aren’t even allowed to accept tips for safety purposes.)

Questions and Suggestions

Is there a fee?  You may be able to get your first order for free, depending on promotions at the time. After that, there is a $4.95 fee for this service.  Fees in your region may vary.

I’m picky.  Will they choose good produce and other items?  You can add extra instructions.  If you prefer your bananas on the green side, you can write that in.

In my experience, I was mostly happy with their produce choices.  The tomatoes were a bit more wrinkly than I’d have liked.  But since I ordered a lot of produce and that was my only complaint, I’d do it again.

Review Your Order  Be sure to go through your entire order.  You aren’t charged based on what you ordered, you are charged based on what the worker shopped for.

For instance, I ordered 6 whole chickens.  They only gave me one.  While I was only charged for one chicken, the missing chicken put a wrinkle in my menu plans and budget.

If you place a large order (in my case, 200 items), don’t expect perfection.  After all, I make mistakes when I do this giant shopping trip myself.

When I realized the mistake with the missing chickens, I called the store. They offered me a credit for my extra time and effort to pick up the meat they had missed.

Pros and Cons of Kroger Clicklist

While I can’t say that my experience was perfect, I would do it again.

Pros

  • I love the ease of this service!  I didn’t have to leave my car at all.  If I were pregnant, had sick kids, had all my kids with me, or had an injury this would be perfect.  I wish it had been around during all my pregnancies.
  • You can’t make impulse buys with this service.  What you put in the online cart is what you get.  They don’t try to upsell you when you checkout.
  • Assuming you stay within the sale period, you can track your spending easily.  Just watch the total of your cart each time you add something.  Easier than keeping a calculated total in the store!

Cons

  • I prefer to make my own choices and to look for other deals while I grocery shop, so I wouldn’t shop this way every time.  If you are picky about your fruit or meat, you can leave them a specific note.  But ultimately, you are still at the mercy of whoever shops for you.
  • I wasn’t able to grab excellent deals on clearance items in the store.

My Verdict

I would not use this service every time I grocery shop.  And if charged the $4.95 fee, I would save it for larger purchases to make it worth the fee.  I generally prefer to have a bit more control over my shopping.

But during super busy or stressful times, I think this is an awesome service to have available.  I definitely will be using it again.

Don’t forget to grab this list of the cheapest foods you can buy!

 

[schema type=”review” url=”https://www.mediumsizedfamily.com/kroger-clicklist-review-easier-shop-home/” name=”Kroger Clicklist Review: Is It Really Easier to Shop from Home?” description=”Have you wondered what Kroger Clicklist and other shop from home grocery services are all about? Here’s a review of how it works, plus pros and cons.” rev_name=”Kroger Clicklist” author=”Jamie Jeffers” pubdate=”2016-06-27″ ]

Have you used Clicklist or a similar service?  What do you think of it?

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