Tops Launches Click-and-Collect Service, Online Organics Shop

Tops Markets is joining the list of online grocers offering a click-and-collect option for shoppers, while also making it easier for online shoppers to purchase organic products.

Powered by San Francisco-based grocery technology company Instacart, Tops Grocery Pick Up will launch Oct. 7, beginning with three stores in western New York state: Hamburg, Williamsville and Tonawanda. Through the ecommerce service, which already delivers groceries to more than 125 of the retailer's stores, shoppers will be able to order the same fresh meat, seafood and produce selections that can be found in stores.

Along with the service, Tops is launching a dedicated online natural and organic store, topsorganics.com. Offering both national-brand and private label items, the store will feature thousands of certified organic, gluten-free and minimally processed products, all available for online ordering and grouped in one spot for shoppers' convenience.

The service operates as follows:

• Shoppers order groceries online through Tops Instacart, select their preferred pickup timeframe – between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. – at one of the locations, and check out online
• Instacart shoppers build the order and prepare it for pickup at the store
• When the order is ready, customers receive a text message that includes pickup instructions and an assigned parking spot for their vehicle
• Upon arrival, shoppers respond "here" to the text message, which alerts a Tops associate to bring the order out to its corresponding shopper's vehicle

"This is yet another exciting expansion in Tops Pickup and Delivery services," said Jill Sirica, manager of digital marketing for Tops. "We strive to continue to make our consumer experience easier and more convenient, and we are excited to bring this next evolution of service to our customers."

Tops originally announced same-day delivery during the last quarter of 2017, saying it would bring service to stores in the Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y., areas, as well as Erie, Pa. It added Rome, Poughkeepsie, Olean, Cortland, Watertown, Carmel, Dunkirk, Mayville, Silver Creek, Westfield, Rhinebeck, New Paltz, Greenville, Cox Sackie and Tannersville, N.Y., earlier this year.

Based in Williamsville, N.Y., Tops Markets LLC operates 169 supermarkets, with five additional run by franchisees under the Tops banner, in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. It employs more than 14,000 associates. The retailer is No. 28 on Progressive Grocer’s 2018 Super 50 list of the top 50 grocers.