5 things to know about Meijer home delivery

Meijer’s home delivery starts today in the Miami Valley, allowing customers to shop for more than 55,000 items online.

The service will cover 2,100 square miles including Miamisburg, Middletown, Lebanon, Huber Heights, Englewood, Springfield and Troy, acccording to the company. That’s more than 415,000 houses that can be serviced by Meijer’s home delivery.

Here’s what to know about the launch of Meijer’s home delivery:

1. JOB GROWTH Meijer is bringing its home delivery services to Cincinnati and Dayton, and it will result in the creation of 1,000 jobs in the state. It will be offered in Columbus, Dublin and Fairborn starting May 4. Toledo will be added as a market later this summer, according to the company.

» RELATED: Meijer adds home delivery services in Dayton, Cincinnati

2. HOW IT WORKS Meijer partnered with Shipt, an app and website that offers grocery delivery services. It allows customers the ability to shop for items online or using its mobile app, and then a personal shopper brings the shopping order right to the customers door.

3. EASY COMMUNICATION Art Sebastian, Meijer's director of digital shopping, told this newspaper that customers can communicate with the personal shopper via messaging in case they forgot an item they needed or want to specify their order more clearly. The personalization is so particular that customers can specify how ripe they want their veggies.

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4. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Customers can sign up for Shipt membership for an annual fee of $99, and receive unlimited free grocery deliveries on all orders more than $35. Shipt also says its prices for individual items will "vary slightly from in-store prices" to help cover the costs of picking, packing and processing. Because most Meijer stores are open 24 hours a day, deliveries from those stores will be available around the clock.

5. OTHER OPTIONS Other grocery retailers like Kroger and Walmart also are offering online shopping and curbside services to meet changing consumer habits. In select cities, Amazon Prime members can shop online for groceries and everyday essentials and have it delivered to their doors with AmazonFresh. Customers pay a monthly $15 fee, in addition to their $99 annual Prime fee.

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