Kroger To Bring Online Wine Delivery To Arizona

By on November 25, 2019 0 972Views

The state of Arizona has become the latest market where Fry’s Food Stores’ parent company, Kroger will offer online wine delivery to customers.

Cincinnati-based Kroger, the nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, has partnered with Los Angeles-based Drinks Holdings to sell wine to be ordered online and delivered to Arizona customers’ homes or offices. The program is called “Kroger Wine.”

“By leveraging our scalable platform, Kroger became the first grocery retailer of its kind to offer a ship-to-home wine program that brings the flexibility, convenience and personalization of e-commerce to the wine shopping experience,” said Zac Brandenberg , Drinks co-founder and CEO, in a statement.

Kroger Wine was launched in late 2018 and with the addition of Arizona, it is now available in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Following the initial launch of Kroger Wine, the company targeted Arizona as a place to expand the program, a Kroger spokeswoman told the Business Journal.

“Arizona is an important state for Kroger,” the spokeswoman said.

While grocery delivery has grown in popularity, companies have faced challenges when it comes to delivering and shipping alcohol. Regulations change from state to state and even by municipality. Some regulations date to the Prohibition-era.

There are a number of small companies that have tried to start online wine and alcohol delivery but having the name recognition and expansive network of brick-and-mortar stores with liquor licenses is a benefit for Kroger and Fry’s in Arizona and its partner Drinks. E-commerce wine delivery is a $70 billion a year industry that has practically been untapped, according to a Drinks statement.

Earlier this month, discount grocer Aldi, which has purchased land in Arizona but has not yet built stores, started an online wine delivery service. Amazon has also opened tiny liquor stores in California as a way to get liquor license necessary to deliver wine via its Prime Now program.

Like other online wine delivery companies, Kroger Wine offers a membership club that sends customers new bottles every quarter. It also allows for one- time purchases. Customers can go to wine.kroger.com, confirm their delivery state and legal drinking age, and choose the wines they want to buy.

Kroger Wine prices range from $10 to $16 per bottle and there are no shipping fees.

“Kroger is continuously broadening how customers can engage with us no matter what their needs are,” said Jody Kalmbach, Kroger’s group vice president of product experience, in a statement. “Our mission is to serve our customers anything, anytime, anywhere, and Kroger Wine represents an additional way our customers can shop with us.”