Who Has The Best Grocery Pickup

Walmart, Kroger, or Publix?

I will be comparing all three sites on different criteria from their weekly ads, sales, coupons, and more! I will be purchasing the same items from each store so there is a controlled variable. I have used all three of these pickup sites before in the past and have already decided on my personal winner. I will try to keep it unbiased by comparing them at the same time and using the same items for each category.

What I'll be purchasing

This is the shopping list I will use for all three sites: Homemade Pizza and Chocolate Chip Cookies: Extra virgin olive oil

Tomato sauce (smooth, or puréed)

Firm mozzarella cheese, grated

Fresh soft mozzarella cheese, separated into small clumps

Parmesan cheese, grated

Mushrooms, very thinly sliced if raw, otherwise first sautéed

Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, very thinly sliced

Italian sausage, cooked ahead and crumbled

Chopped fresh basil

Pesto

Pepperoni, thinly sliced

Onions, thinly sliced raw or caramelized

Ham, thinly sliced1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Home Page (Starting my cart)

The start-up page on all three websites is fairly similar with each of them giving suggestions on how to best build your cart.

Publix: Your Items, Sales, Savings for you, Weekly savings (BOGO)

Walmart: Featured Items, Reorder your essentials, National Hot Dog Day

Kroger: More ways to save, Start my cart, My Sale Items

Weekly Ad

Kroger / Via kroger.com

I usually check my weekly Ad first to know what is on sale and if any of my grocery items or similar products are on sale. Kroger is the only one with an accessible button at the top to reach the weekly ad quickly, but if that's not what you regularly look for then Walmart and Publix display their sales items on the homepage without an Ad.

Item Cost (My Total)

When searching for each individual item on my list I chose the cheapest option on each website. Once all the items were picked I compared the totals. Walmart came out cheapest with the total being 35.66 for all 20 items! Publix does, however, have a disclaimer that it charges higher online than in-store. Walmart also requires you to purchase a minimum of $35.

Pick Up Cost

All three sites offered free pickup

Meal Ideas

When you don't know what to shop for, do not have a list, or don't have any meals planned in mind then all three stores have some options. Kroger offers recipes and even allows you to shop the ingredients on the same page, making it easier to add the items to your cart. Walmart lets you know what all the best seasonal meals are. I could not easily locate a recipe page for them. Publix offers Apron Meal Kits. I could not locate a recipe tab for them either. All three websites also offer ready meals in store, but they are harder to locate online for pickup.

Coupons

Kroger is clearly the leader when it comes to digital coupons. They allow you to look at all the coupons in a separate tab, but also while shopping for individual products. Publix also has coupons, but it looks like all savings are automatically applied to each item. Walmart does not offer coupons, but I believe they are still doing the price match guarantee with shopping ads.

Sales

Comparing sales items is hard when they constantly change every week, but above you can see where to find the best sales on each website. Kroger now offers cashback coupons. I noticed many of them, however, are wine. Publix offers discounts on items when you stock up on similar brands. Walmart constantly offers discounts on their grocery delivery as well. Many of their grocery item sales may be mixed in with their regular ad because Walmart is not specific to groceries only. They are mass-merchandise retail that offers more than just food so you may have better luck finding electronic sales then produce.

Time Slots

Many pickup time slots for 6 am-8 am have a primary focus on at-risk individuals do to COVID-19. You also have the option of getting your food within hours at Publix and Kroger but after a certain time, Walmart does not offer same day pickup. The same goes for the other two I noticed later in the day like around 3p.

Product Availabilty

Walmart does a good job of letting you know when an item is out of stock before purchasing. All three pages let you know when certain items are not available for pickup. Substitutions are a big part of pickup and each store has its own policy. Kroger and I believe Walmart allows you to pick your replacement before you arrive for your order. Publix also offers some form of update during your order process as well. Pricing and brands play a huge role in item availability, so if you are not too adventurous then I recommend choosing the option of no substitute and not allowing your favorite items to be replaced.

Customer Service

We all know Publix for their superior in-store service similar to that of Chick-fil-a but when it comes to pickup they all average around the same depending on your location, preferred store, time of pick-up, etc... When you go to the store you call the number and let them know you arrived. Publix and Walmart allow you to do it in the app as well. Whoever answers the phone at the time can make or break the customer service so it is hard to evaluate it on that. How long you wait and if there is a problem with your order however is the best criteria to evaluate them on. Kroger does a good job with a follow-up survey and sometimes offers credit when needed for a better experience on your next purchase.

Packaging (Appearance)

Walmart / Via Walmart.com

Kroger started using paper bags last year in my area. I noticed more food was getting cramped into one bag more often now. They are great to re-use for stores like Aldi though. Walmart still uses plastic I believe for non-frozen items. Publix also uses paper bags for their pickup. I would prefer the bags to have handles, but the less plastic the better I guess. Hopefully, in the future the stores adapt to whole-foods handled paper bags.

FYI Bonus Category:

Sumtin_Cooking / Via Instagram: @sumtin_cooking

Kroger has a rewards program and if you take the cutomer satisfaction survey, you will gain 50 fuel rewards points. I also get a thank you bag/gift maybe 3x a year during my Kroger pickup. Kroger and Walmart both had BLM banners on their website in support of their employees during this time. Publix did not have a banner on their homepage that was visible to me. EBT/Snap are also now accepted during pickup for Walmart and Kroger. Publix did not say if they accepted for pickup as well.

Who's your winner?