PC Express

Last updated

PC Express
PredecessorLoblaws Click & Collect
FoundedOctober 24, 2014;9 years ago (2014-10-24)
Number of locations
300 (2018)
Owner Loblaw Companies
Website pcexpress.ca
iOS app

PC Express is a grocery click and collect & delivery service owned by Canadian retail conglomerate Loblaw Companies. The service began in October 2014 and the company now has over 700 pickup locations and delivers to ~70% of Canadian households. [1] [2] These locations include curbside pickup, self-serve kiosks, refrigerated vans, and Shoppers Drug Mart locations in urban areas. [3] The Loblaw Companies banners participating in PC Express are Atlantic Superstore, Dominion, Fortinos, Loblaws, Maxi, No Frills, Provigo, Real Canadian Superstore, Valu-mart, Your Independent Grocer and Zehrs Markets. A service fee of $3 to $5 is added to each order, unless a customer has a PC Express Pass subscription. [4] Delivery is provided by Instacart contractors. A rapid delivery option with marked up item costs is also available, which uses DoorDash Dashers to pick and deliver each order.

Contents

History

Click and Collect at Loblaws stores began in fall 2014 with a product selection of around 20 thousand items, and had expanded to 60 active locations by June 2016. [5] The first location had a drive-through; however, subsequent locations have used dedicated parking spots instead. [6] By November 2015, the program had expanded to include Real Canadian Superstore locations in British Columbia. [7] In December 2017, Loblaw Companies began offering click and collect in Atlantic Canada, starting with Halifax. [8] By the start of 2018, about 300 stores were on the PC Express network, with plans to significantly expand the program to over 700 locations by year end. [9] In February 2018, Loblaw Companies signed a partnership with Metrolinx to begin offering grocery pick-up at some GO Transit stations in the greater Toronto area. [10] In November 2018, Loblaws began testing a self-checkout like feature in the PC Express mobile app at five of its Ontario stores, allowing customers to scan items as they shop and pay at the checkout. [11]

In 2020, Loblaw initiated a pilot program with Gatik, an American autonomous vehicle company to trial driverless trucks for online order deliveries. In 2022, some driverless trucks were launched for select orders, with a safety driver in the passenger seat. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supermarket</span> Large format of grocery store

A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday United States usage, however, "grocery store" is often used to mean "supermarket".

Shoppers Drug Mart Inc., commonly known as Shoppers is a Canadian retail pharmacy chain based in Toronto, Ontario. It has more than 1,300 stores in ten provinces and two territories.

Loblaws is a Canadian supermarket chain with stores located in the province of Ontario, and in Alberta and British Columbia under the Loblaws CityMarket banner. Headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Loblaws is a subsidiary of Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest food distributor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loblaw Companies</span> Canadian retail company

Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners, as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private label program that includes grocery and household items, clothing, baby products, pharmaceuticals, cellular phones, general merchandise and financial services. Loblaw is the largest Canadian food retailer, and its brands include President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh. It is controlled by George Weston Limited, a holding company controlled by the Weston family; Galen G. Weston, is the chair of the Loblaw board of directors, as well as chair of the board of directors and CEO of Canada-based holding company George Weston.

Sobeys Inc. is a national supermarket chain in Canada with over 1,500 stores operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than C$25.1 billion in the fiscal 2019 operating year. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited, a Canadian business conglomerate.

Dominion was a national chain of supermarkets in Canada, which was known as the Dominion of Canada when the chain was founded. The chain was founded in 1919 in Ontario and was later acquired by the Argus Corporation. It was later sold to The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), which restricted the chain to the Greater Toronto Area. Stores outside Ontario were converted to the A&P banner or sold to third parties. A&P's Canadian division was later acquired by Metro Inc., which rebranded the remaining Dominion stores to its namesake banner in 2008.

Atlantic Superstore is a Canadian supermarket chain. The chain operates 54 stores in the Maritimes of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. It is owned by George Weston Limited through Loblaw Companies Limited, and operates under the Atlantic Wholesalers division of Loblaws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T&T Supermarket</span> Canadian supermarket chain

T&T Supermarkets is a Canadian supermarket chain that sells primarily Asian foods, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, and Asian packaged goods. It also sells kitchenware and gifts, and has in-store kitchens and bakeries. T&T Supermarkets was founded in Vancouver in 1993 by Cindy Lee. It is currently led by CEO Tina Lee, who succeeded her mother in 2014. In 2009, T&T Supermarkets was acquired by Loblaw Companies Limited.

Real Canadian Superstore is a chain of supermarkets owned by Canadian food retailing giant Loblaw Companies. Its name is often shortened to Superstore, or, less commonly, RCSS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big-box store</span> Physically large retail establishment

A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rouge Hill GO Station</span> Railway station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Rouge Hill is a GO Transit train and bus station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. On the Lakeshore East line, the station is located on the shore of Lake Ontario in the West Rouge neighbourhood of the district of Scarborough. It is a major commuter transfer point, with large parking lots and local bus services. Travelling eastwards, it is the last station in Toronto before the trains enter Durham Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PC Optimum</span> Canadian retail loyalty program by the Loblaw Companies

PC Optimum is a single loyalty program operated by Canadian retail conglomerate Loblaw Companies; it was created through the merger of Loblaws' PC Plus and Shoppers Drug Mart's Shoppers Optimum programs.

No Frills is a Canadian chain of discount supermarkets, owned by Loblaw Companies Limited, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited. There are over 200 franchise stores located in nine Canadian provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxi (Canadian supermarket)</span> Quebec subsidiary of the Loblaw Companies

Maxi is a discount grocery retailer based in Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1984 by Provigo, it is a division of Loblaw Companies and the largest of Loblaws' Quebec supermarket chains. Maxi is the Quebec equivalent of No Frills, a chain of franchised discount grocery stores outside Quebec, except that Maxi stores are owned by the company. Over 7,000 people are employed at the Maxi and Maxi & Cie stores across Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Name (brand)</span> Canadian line of generic brand grocery and household products by the Loblaw Companies

No Name is a line of generic brand grocery and household products sold by Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest food retailer. No Name products are available in stores across Canada that include Loblaws, No Frills, Dominion, Real Canadian Superstore, Your Independent Grocer, Valu-mart, Zehrs, Fortinos, Provigo, Extra Foods, Super-Valu, Maxi, Atlantic Superstore, and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Walmart Canada is a Canadian retail corporation and the Canadian branch of the U.S.-based multinational retail conglomerate Walmart. Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, it was founded on March 17, 1994, with the purchase of the Woolco Canada chain from the F. W. Woolworth Company.

Freshlocal Solutions Inc. is an online grocer, wholesale distributor, store operator and software licensing company based in Vancouver. The company was founded as Small Potatoes Urban Delivery in 1997. In September 2021 Freshlocal went under new executive leadership which resulted in key leadership changeover and in May 2022 it filed for bankruptcy protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instacart</span> Internet-based grocery delivery service

Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, is an American delivery company based in San Francisco that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada accessible via a website and mobile app. It allows customers to order groceries from participating retailers with the shopping being done by a personal shopper. The company also provides alcohol delivery in states and provinces where it is allowed. It has partnerships with 1,400 retail banners comprising 80,000 stores. In 2022, it fulfilled 262.6 million orders with a total transaction value of $28.8 billion and an average transaction value of $110.

Robomart is an American technology company headquartered in Santa Monica, California that builds autonomous smart shops for cafes, ice cream parlors, and quick-service restaurants. The company’s white label platform gives retailers the option to expand their footprint at a significantly lower cost than traditional brick-and-mortar real-estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parcel locker</span> Self-service collection service for parcels

A parcel locker is an automated postal box that allows users for a self-service collection of parcels and oversize letters as well as the dispatch of parcels.

References

  1. "Loblaw launches click and collect service". Canadian Grocer. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  2. Shaw, Hollie (2 May 2018). "'Blanket the country': Loblaw plans nationwide home delivery rollout to counter Amazon". Financial Post . Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  3. Sagan, Aleksandra (26 February 2018). "Groceries on the GO: Loblaw customers can pick orders at select stations". CityNews . Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  4. Kopun, Francine (24 October 2014). "Loblaw launches click-and-collect service". Toronto Star . Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  5. "Online grocery shopping 'click-and-collect' program expands in Canada". CTV News . 16 June 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  6. "Loblaws' 'Click And Collect' Brings Drive-Through Groceries To Canada". HuffPost Canada. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  7. Penner, Derrick (12 November 2015). "Real Canadian Superstore ups online shopping ante". Vancouver Sun . Postmedia Network . Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  8. Taylor, Roger (4 December 2017). "Loblaw launches online grocery shopping service Click & Collect". The Chronicle Herald . Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  9. "Loblaw signs deal with Metrolinx to let customers pick up online grocery orders at GTA GO stations". Edmonton Journal . Postmedia Network. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  10. Sagan, Aleksandra (26 February 2018). "Loblaw signs deal to allow customers to pick up orders at GO Transit stations". Global News . Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  11. Gladysz, Kayla (22 November 2018). "Loblaws launching scan-while-you-shop phone app in Toronto today". Daily Hive Toronto. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  12. "Loblaws partners with self-driving company Gatik in Canadian first: driverless grocery trucks". CBC News. www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 14 June 2023.