The Giant Co. has announced a shift in how it will deliver groceries to its customers in order to speed delivery and expand product offerings.
The company announced it is closing five centralized e-commerce fulfillment centers in the region, including locations in North Coventry Township, Chester County, and Upper Moreland Township, Montgomery County.
The closures are expected to be completed by the end of April.
That shift will impact a total of 493 employees across the five fulfillment centers.
According to the company, the fulfillment center at 86 Glocker Way in North Coventry Township, which has 84 employees, is expected to close on March 20.
The fulfillment center at 315 York Road in Upper Moreland Township, which has 105 employees, is expected to close April 3.
The remaining closures include:
• 3501 Island Ave., Philadelphia; 124 team members; closing Feb. 20.
• 235 N. Reservoir St., Lancaster; 76 team members; closing Feb. 27.
• 216 E. Fairmont St., Coopersburg, Lehigh County; 104 team members; closing March 13.
Ashley Flower, Giant’s public relations manager, said the focus is on supporting our team members over the next couple of months.
She said the company has worked to identify opportunities similar to the employees’ current roles or new roles they are qualified for and interested in.
“And we’re hopeful that most team members will stay with the company. Impacted team members are being offered equivalent jobs within our stores, with the same pay and benefits,” she said in an emailed response to questions.
One exception, she said, would be if a driver were to accept a non-driver position, such as working in a store, the base pay would be the same, but the employee would no longer receive customer tips.
In December, Giant filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications — known as WARN notices — for the Lancaster and Philadelphia facilities. On Jan. 6, notices were posted for the remaining locations in North Coventry, Upper Moreland and Coopersburg.
A shifting model
The decision to close the facilities was made after considering customer trends and preferences for home delivery.
“We’ve learned over the past few years that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to our e-commerce business, particularly our fulfillment model. With customers expecting faster delivery, we need to ensure we are operating as efficiently as possible to meet their ever-changing needs,” Giant’s parent company Ahold Delhaize USA said in a release.
Moving forward, orders will now be picked or shopped by Giant Direct team members in store, according to Flower.
The most noticeable change to customers, she said, will be how groceries are delivered. They will now be delivered by a third-party (Instacart or DoorDash) driver versus a Giant Direct driver.
Among the benefits to the new system:
• Faster delivery times, with orders delivered in as little as 2 hours.
• Expanded assortment and in-store pricing.
• Delivery windows are now only one hour, which means less time waiting.
• Customers can make order changes up to 2 to 3 hours before delivery window, instead of the previous 4 to 6 hours.
“E-commerce remains an important segment of our business strategy and key to our future omnichannel growth. We remain committed to providing an outstanding experience to our customers by offering speedy delivery, more delivery windows, broad product assortment and value,” the company said in a statement.
The transition to what the company calls a local, store-first fulfillment network has been enabled by strong technology improvements and partnerships and the company’s team members.
Flower said the fulfillment centers are within stores, except for the Lancaster and Philadelphia centers. Store operations will not be impacted, and Flower added that the company is assessing how the space will be used going forward.
