Is It Cheaper To Grocery Shop Online At Walmart Or In-Store?
From its cheap store-brand items to frequent discounts, a trip to Walmart offers many ways to save money at the grocery store, yet you might wonder if shopping on its website could be even better. Between factors like shipping fees, price matching, and your personal needs, it can be tough to tell which route saves you more money. We weighed the pros and cons of shopping at Walmart in person versus online to help you make your decision.
Firstly, there's no one best course of action here: The way you shop at Walmart mainly depends on what you want to buy. Its website is better for grabbing large hauls in a more convenient way. It offers extra-large packs of essentials from bottled water and pasta to breakfast cereal and even fresh eggs, as well as online-only bulk deals on select items. If your household goes through certain kitchen staples in no time, grabbing them on Walmart's webshop could be a money- and time-saver (and you won't have to lug an overstuffed cart around the massive store).
Walmart's website also has a page for rollbacks (aka discounts), so you can easily see which items are on sale. The site offers daily and weekly flash deals, too. If you want to buy the best frying pan from Walmart or another cooking gadget, you could score an awesome find for up to 65% off. Of course, we also have to address the two elephants in the room: delivery fees and price discrepancies.
Are Walmart's groceries cheaper online, and what are its delivery fees?
Walmart's delivery fee depends on whether you get your online order shipped to you via a mailing service, delivered by a courier from your closest store, or choose to pick it up curbside. A money-saving tip for cheaper Walmart trips is that shipping and pickup are free for orders over $35; for orders under this amount, you'll pay $6.99 for shipping and an unspecified fee for pickup. Meanwhile, delivery from the store requires a fee of $9.95. This is another reason why bigger hauls are better for online orders, as you want to buy enough to waive shipping and pickup charges or justify the fee for delivery.
As for whether groceries are cheaper on Walmart's website, there's no straight answer, as prices for items vary widely and may be higher or lower than in-store. On the bright side, the company has a price adjustment policy every customer should know: It price matches between its stores and website. If an item costs less online than at your local market, the staff there will likely sell you it to you for its lower online price. The easiest way to compare prices is to download the Walmart app before your next visit, set your store location, then look up products in the app to see what they cost online versus in-store. You can then determine which items to grab in person, which ones to order online, and which ones can be price matched.
Shopping at Walmart in person has money-saving advantages, too
Walmart's website offers some exclusive advantages, but visiting in person has its own merits. First of all, you ought to shop in-store if you only need a few groceries in order to avoid delivery fees. Secondly, Walmart stores offer way more items on clearance, as its website has a very limited clearance selection that doesn't usually include groceries. A physical trip might be better specifically for buying food on the cheap. It also helps to use Walmart's price tags to shop smarter and determine if an item is on rollback, clearance, or at its regular price.
Another boon of store visits has less to do with actual prices and more to do with value — you can examine items and determine what's worth spending money on and what should be left on shelves. There's nothing worse than ordering groceries online, only to receive wilting produce, tiny cuts of meat, or eggs that have cracked in transit. Shopping in-store helps you spend your hard-earned cash on items that are worth it.
You now know the basic pros and cons of these ways to shop at Walmart, but there's one more factor to consider: a Walmart Plus membership. Among other perks, this paid program gives you free shipping on online orders and waives the $9.95 delivery from store fee for orders over $35. You also get early access to sales and deals. If shopping online appeals to you, Walmart Plus could be worth it for the extra savings.