Kroger Delivery

Kroger grocery delivery is powered by Instacart. Normally, this is enough to make me break out in a sweat, but Kroger has opted for a hybrid experience: half Kroger and half Instacart.

Here is how Kroger grocery delivery works, and why it's unique:

Create a Kroger Plus Card and an account if you don't have one.

Download the Kroger app, because you want to shop from either the Kroger app or Kroger.com, because it's cheaper and a better experience, which I will get to in a minute.

If you don't have an account the app will create one and link it for you. If you do have an account, put your number in and link it to the app.

This way you can clip digital coupons and apply them to your account from the app or website.

Shop from the Kroger App or Kroger.com for grocery delivery.

Using either Kroger service gives you access to all the coupons and the same prices you'd find in store. You won't get the same experience at Instacart.

The prices in the Kroger app or at Kroger.com are the same online as they are in store.

If you've ever used Instacart, you know why this is a big deal. Grocery stores will mark up Instacart prices as much as 20% compared to in store in order to recoup the fees they have to pay Instacart.

That's the kicker I hinted at above: if you don't shop directly through Kroger.com, you'll pay higher prices! If you shop through Instacart, you will not be happy with the markup.

For example, one shopper saw a bag of frozen fruit for $15.99 at Instacart.com for Kroger, but it was $8.99 in the Kroger app, with an additional $1 off coupon she could clip.

Kroger charges $9.95 for delivery per grocery order.

Your next question was probably this: How does Kroger recoup the cost for delivery services? They charge $9.95 per delivery. The order minimum is $10.

You can chose contactless delivery, so the driver leaves it on your porch.

If you belong to Instacart Express, you have math in your future.

Maybe you belong to Instacart Express, since you use Instacart so much and this helps you save on delivery fees? For stores that are all in, or exclusively use Instacart for deliveries, you can save with Instacart Express. But for stores like Kroger that are half-in, you either:

1. Pay the $9.95 at Kroger.com and get better prices by taking advantage of sales and promos and digital coupons;

2. Or you shop through Instacart.com, use your Express membership and don't pay the delivery fee, and but pay more/don't get the sales or promos/not as many coupons.

Bottom line: You have some math in your future if you belong to Instacart Express. Here's an example. Say you buy about $100 worth of groceries at Kroger.com, save about $20 with coupons and promos but pay the $9.95 delivery fee. You're still saving about $10. Those same products on Instacart, once you apply their coupons and pay their other fees and tip, saves you about $5. In this case, you're better off paying the $9.95 on Kroger.com and saving more money, even though it might kill you to pay the delivery fee.

Make substitutions in the app.

You can tell your shopper to substitute any out of stock items in the app.

If your items are out of stock, Kroger will give you an upgrade.

If one of the items you ordered is out of stock, a Kroger associate will replace it with the same item in a larger quantity, according to their policy. If that brand isn't available, they'll replace it with a similar or better product and sell it to you for the original, lower price.

Clip and apply any available digital coupons.

The digital coupons come off your order total. During promotional events, Kroger will let you redeem one digital coupon up to five times! These are common and happen every few months.

Kroger recently changed their coupon policy to state that you only get one coupon per item, period. You can't stack store coupons with manufacturer coupons anymore, according to their policy, but...

...every store is different. We know this because we've tested it. That being said, you can always give it a try and see what happens.

You can't get a paper receipt with your delivery.

This matters because rebate and cash back apps need you to scan your paper receipt in order to give you the deals. With Clicklist, you could request a paper receipt. But customer service tells us you can't get that anymore. However, it doesn't hurt to ask in the description for your order.