I think I’m one of the few people that actually enjoys doing their groceries.  And it’s not surprising considering how much effort and stress a trip to the grocery can sometimes take.  But now, we can do our groceries wherever we are, in 60 minutes!

Online shopping changed the way we do our purchases as we no longer have to go to physical stores and manually pick up the things that we wanted.  We simply go online, order the things we want, and wait for it to be delivered to your doors.  But because the turnaround normally takes days, online shopping mostly applies to items we don’t need in a hurry.  Now, there’s this app called Easy Grocery that facilitates doing your groceries and having it delivered to your doors in 60 minutes!  I think even I sometimes spend more than that doing my own groceries!  Here’s how it works:

Prerequisites

First, you need to install the Easy Grocery app (available for Android or iOS) on your phone.  Then you need to setup an account.

Doing Your Grocery

Once setup, the app asks you which city you’d like your groceries delivered.  As of the time of writing, the service is currently limited to Makati City.  You are then asked which grocery you’d like to do your grocery.  It’s recommended that you pick the one closest to you to minimize the delivery time.  Once set, just pick the items you’d like to purchase, as you would with other shopping app.

After you’re done choosing your items, open your cart to see your items, their quantity, and total costs.  If you have a discount coupon code, enter it on this screen as well.  Once ready, tap on Place Order button to get to the final confirmation screen.

Checking Out and Payment

As you can see, Easy Grocery app adds two lines of charges on top of your purchases.  This is because Easy Grocery app does not add any markup and are showing you the actual grocery prices.  The ₱100 service fee takes care of doing the actual grocery shopping for you and the ₱100 delivery fee is of course for bringing the groceries to your doors.  If you’re ready to go to the next step, simply add in your delivery address and payment options.  Easy Grocery app allows you to pay in cash upon delivery or via credit card, but note that the latter option may incur additional charges based on your purchase cost.

Processing

Once you place your order, you’d receive a notification that your order is “in process.”  You don’t really have to do anything after this but wait for your deliveries, but you can keep track of your groceries if you prefer.  You can actually see from the app as each item goes “in basket.”  This is the part where an actual person does the grocery shopping for you.  And the nice thing about this part is that this person may inform you, via the app’s built in messaging system, if the item you’re looking for is no longer available or had changed price, etc., and may give you options.  It’s exactly like when you asked someone in your household to do the groceries for you!  Since the items in Easy Grocery app’s catalog is not a real-time reflection of the grocery’s inventory, the chances of you getting a text or call upon ordering gets higher the more “exotic” items you have in your cart.

Monitoring and Delivery

Once your cart is complete, you can then monitor the delivery status of your grocery.  The app has a map that shows you where your delivery person (also known as rider) is so you’d have an idea how long before you get your groceries.  Note that the actual location may not be real time as that depends on the data service in the location of the rider.  Nonetheless, it’s quite useful to know if you need get to your door soon!

Finally, when your grocery arrives, your rider would ask you for your signature to close the transaction.  Your payment as well, of course, if you picked cash on delivery.

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My Experience

I actually got to try the entire process of doing my grocery via Easy Grocery app during its launch last September 24, 2017.  We installed the app on our phones and placed our items in our carts.  We had our orders delivered to where the launch was being held so that it’s transparent to everyone how long the entire process actually takes.  We also used a ₱2,000 discount voucher so we got to test that feature too.

Since there were many of us simultaneously placing our orders practically at the same time, we basically got to stress test the app and their process.  But since you can monitor from the app when your orders are already handled, you’re not guessing what’s happening to your grocery.

My grocery included some dried mangoes that unfortunately were out of stock from our selected grocery.  The person handling my cart informed me, via the app’s messaging, of the situation and offered me alternatives.  At this part, I actually appreciated the app more as there’s this human interaction that makes the entire process more dynamic.  It’s nice to know that you’re still in control of what goes into your cart even if some items may no longer be available and not be surprised in the end upon delivery.  I even received a call when my data connection dropped and they needed quicker response.  In the end, I didn’t get exactly what I placed originally, but I got what I wanted nonetheless.

We weren’t able to accurately time the delivery due to technical issues at the grocery which resulted in delays of releasing our items.  Nonetheless, we all got our groceries, in batches, while we all were sitting comfortably inside the venue, enjoying our lunch, participating in some games, where the launch was being held.

Conclusion

The Easy Grocery app is still in its infancy stage, sort of speak, but I can already see great value in it.  Imagine if you’re setting up a party somewhere in Makati and you don’t have time to do your groceries, you can simply place your orders in the app and have it delivered.  You get your grocery while you do something else.  And regarding the extra ₱200, you can think of it this way: how much does it cost you when you do your grocery?  If you have to drive to the supermarket and park, or take a taxi take you home because of all your grocery bags, or you tend to get hungry after doing your grocery?  The convenience of having someone do the grocery for you and have it delivered to you in 60 minutes I think more than justifies that, especially for folks who have much more valuable things to do.

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For more information about Easy Grocery, follow their social media account on Facebook and Instagram, or visit their website easygrocery.ph.