Frisco Wal-Mart to offer online grocery shopping

Wal-Mart shoppers in the Tampa Bay area will soon be able to order groceries online or from their mobile device and pick up their goods without leaving their cars.

Amazon is offering home delivery of groceries, but Walmart says curbside pickup is the most efficient way to handle the growth in online shopping.

Beginning today, October 15, customers can shop at Walmart.com/grocery and schedule a convenient pickup time at participating locations on or after October 29.

Customer Jen Dickinson unloads groceries as her son Jack, 15-months, looks on outside a Wal-Mart store in East Peoria, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, February 20, 2013. In the Denver test, 1 in 4 customers using the pickup service were new to Wal-Mart. There are no extra fees or charges. Wal-Mart said they expect the program to save shoppers money, because it will prevent them from binge shopping and picking up things on a whim.

There is a $30 minimum on each pickup order.

Wal-Mart has been testing this in a few other markets over the past year.

“Anyone who’s in a hurry or doesn’t have time is going to just love it, cause they can pull up, get it right in their auto, not have to get out: It’s going to save people so much time”, said Christine Ashment, an E-Commerce Market Coach in Utah and California.