Costco now offering Canadians online grocery delivery

Costco.ca is the latest retailer to launch an online grocery store in Canada, starting with some stores in southern Ontario.

The membership-based retailer has begun offering hundreds of non-perishable grocery items, beauty products and supplements online.

They guarantee delivery within two days and there is no delivery fee on orders of $75 or more.

So far, the service is only available in parts of southern Ontario including Toronto, Oshawa and Barrie, but not Ottawa.

Costco Canada’s Senior Vice-President and Senior General Merchandise Manager Andrée Brien said in a press release that the service will eventually be rolled out to the rest of Ontario and Quebec.

“We are starting on a smaller scale to ensure that we provide the level of service that Canadian members have come to enjoy across all of our businesses and services,” she said.

Canada’s largest grocer, Loblaw Companies Ltd., launched a home delivery service last year. It is now available in a number of cities including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Regina and Guelph, Ont.

Loblaws’ delivery, which is a partnership with the company Instacart, has as service fee of 7.5 per cent plus a delivery fee of up to $9.99.

Metro Inc. and Sobeys Inc. have both said they are planning home delivery options, also starting in Ontario.

Walmart.ca currently offers grocery delivery in the Greater Toronto Area with a minimum $50 order and a $9.97 delivery fee.