Grocery delivery company Shipt has announced its largest expansion in three years, adding nearly 1,000 more store locations that its contract workers will service, and enlarged its coverage area to include more customers.
As a result, the Target-owned company has the potential to reach 2 million additional households across the United States, with Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle and Charlotte, N.C., markets among the markets seeing the most noticeable impact.
"This is the first time Shipt has expanded this way," said Bridget Fruit, chief operating officer for Shipt, in a statement. "Over the years, Shipt has launched one city at a time or rolled out a new retail partner nationwide, but this exciting coast to coast expansion is unlike anything we've done before."
This time, Shipt worked with retail partners such as CVS and Bed, Bath & Beyond to identify their locations that could benefit from the delivery service.
For example, Shipt's service is now available at more than 200 additional CVS locations.
Shipt has grown in leaps and bounds since the onsest of the pandemic and is now available in more than 5,000 metros in the country.
Minneapolis-based Target reported in August that Target orders for Shipt grew 20% on top of more than 60% growth in the second quarter of last year.
In the past year, Shipt launched more than 30 new partnerships with retailers.
Shipt, which had a little more than 100,000 workers in the early spring of last year, has tripled the number of independent contractors who fulfill its orders. Shipt has recently added some personalization adjustments to its services. Last month it began to allow customers to add preferred shoppers.
The home delivery market has become more competitive as companies continue to grow their geographic reach and the types of products they deliver. For example, last month Walmart launched delivery service GoLocal to allow other businesses to utilize the retailer's delivery platform to get items to customers' homes.
