99 Ranch Market Adapts to Pandemic Retailing

It's not just the major grocery chains that are overwhelmed with consumer demand due to the pandemic. 

Smaller grocery chains such as 99 Ranch Market are seeing their stores packed with shoppers who have more time to cook and experiment in the kitchen with diverse ingredients. Consumers are also shopping ethnic and smaller grocers more often during the pandemic as they hunt for hard-to-find items such as toilet paper and eggs. 

To leverage all of that demand, 99 Ranch Market is adding e-commerce to its offering.

The Asian grocery chain of 52 stores based in Buena Park, California, has launched click-and-collect and delivery services in Northern California, Southern California, Texas, Washington and Oregon. The company plans to expand the services to the rest of its store footprint later this year. The retailer has also launched a ship-to-home offering for customers who don't live near a 99 Ranch store.

Consumers who want to shop 99 Ranch Market online will have three options:

• In-Store Pickup: Customers can shop the 99 Ranch Market website for groceries. Once the order is placed, 99 Ranch Market will provide a personal shopper to pick the items. As soon as the order is ready for pickup, the customer is notified. 
• Local Delivery: 99 Ranch Market will deliver groceries within a 5-mile radius of a store.
• Direct to Home: Customers who don't have a 99 Ranch Store nearby can also choose to have their groceries, fresh and non-perishable, shipped via FedEx. Rates vary.  

Additional 99 Ranch Market launches during the COVID-19 outbreak include special hours for special shoppers. All 99 Ranch Market locations are reserving the first business hour for senior, pregnant and disabled shoppers to shop comfortably for their basic necessities during this difficult time.

99 Ranch Market stores span an average of 60,000 square feet, are focused on Asian foods, and frequently include restaurants, food courts, shops and scratch bakeries.