Everyone likes to shop at Trader Joe’s. Its friendly staff, fun products, and charming store features make spending time in TJ’s a delightful experience. Best of all, it has one of the best return policies of any grocery store.
However, as welcoming as Trader Joe’s is to its customers, sometimes life can get in the way and make it difficult to make a trip to the store. This may pose a problem given that TJs doesn’t deliver or even offer curbside pickup to its customers.
That is where grocery delivery surfaces like Instacart come in, which allow customers like you to shop for groceries without leaving their homes. But the question remains, is Trader Joe’s on Instacart?
Is Trader Joe’s On Instacart?
Trader Joe’s isn’t on Instacart, even though most of its competitors are. For instance, Instacart offers same-day delivery on Walmart products ordered via the Instacart app or website. Similarly, Meijer lets you get your favorite products as quickly as 1 hour with Instacart.
However, even if you’re stuck at home and cannot find the time to shop for groceries at TJ’s, all is still not lost. As we will explain in the coming section, at least two services/marketplaces allow you to have Trader Joe’s products delivered to your doorstep.
How To Get Trader Joe’s Delivery?
Since Trader Joe’s doesn’t offer delivery, you have to look for 3rd-party platforms offering the same. Luckily, TaskRabbit and Dumpling let you get your favorite Trader Joe’s products delivered to your doorstep. Let’s see how you can order TJ’s products with both.
Dumpling
Dumpling is a dedicated grocery delivery app that gives you the option to hire shoppers that will deliver groceries to your doorstep. The Dumpling shoppers are in all major cities in the US and are mostly willing to deliver products from TJ’s grocery section for a small fee.
Here’s how you can get Trader Joe’s delivery using Dumpling:
- Go to Dumpling’s website or app
- Enter your zip code in the specific section
- Check out the profiles of Dumpling shoppers – they will have the Trader Joe’s logo on their profiles.
- Select the Dumpling shopper with the highest rating
- Once you have selected the shopper and they have indicated they’re ready to deliver, provide them with your grocery shopping list and delivery address
TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit is an online marketplace that connects people with “Taskers”, people who can complete various tasks for a fee. TaskRabbit users can post all kinds of tasks before selecting a Tasker they feel is best suited to complete the job to their satisfaction.
Here’s how you can get Trader Joe’s delivery using TaskRabbit:
- Sign up for TaskRabbit
- Create your profile as a user
- Post the job (which, in this case, would be purchasing products from TJ’s before delivering them to a specific address)
- Review the proposals submitted by various Taskers and select the one offering the best mix of ratings, reviews, and price
- After getting the order delivered to the address you gave in the previous step, make the payment through the platform
Can You Order Stuff Online From Trader Joe’s?
Trader Joe’s doesn’t have a website displaying its products, nor does it have a delivery service like many of its rivals. If you want to buy products from Trader’s Joe, only two options exist:
- Visit the store in person
- Use a 3rd-party grocery delivery platform
Why does Trader Joe’s Doesn’t Offer Delivery?
Here are various reasons why Trader Joe’s may not deliver to your doorstep in the foreseeable future:
1) TJ’s Wants to Keep Product Costs Low
Did you know that Trader Joe’s offered delivery in New York for 10 years? Per the company’s spokesperson, It only ended the service in March 2019 because it was too costly.
“Instead of passing along unsustainable cost increases to our customers, removing delivery will allow us to continue offering outstanding values — quality products for great everyday prices, and to make better use of valuable space in our stores,” Trader Joe’s representative Kenya Friend-Daniel said.
2) Exorbitant Cost of Building a Delivery Infrastructure
Another explanation was given by Matt Sloan, Trader Joe’s Vice President of Marketing, in a company podcast in 2020.
He stated that “creating an online shopping system for curbside pickup, or the infrastructure for delivery, is a massive undertaking. It’s something that takes months or years to plan, build, and implement, and it requires tremendous resources.”
3) Inability to Recreate TJ’s Environment On A Website
Do you regularly visit Trader’s Joe? Then you might be aware of the fact that TJ’s introduces and discontinues products more frequently than its rivals.
This is part of a strategy that revolves around creating a treasure-hunt-like experience inside the store, spurring customers to make impulse purchases. While this experience is relatively easy to create in the physical world, it’s downright challenging to do the same on a website.
Does Trader Joe’s Deliver With Amazon?
Trader Joe’s offers some non-perishable goods on Amazon, though you won’t find its world-renowned cream of tartar on the E-commerce platform.
Bear in mind that you may have to wait a couple of days for your purchased item to arrive. Also, some delivery fees may be charged if you don’t have Amazon Prime.
Additionally, while you can always look forward to discounts when visiting Trader Joe’s, items on Amazon could be sold for higher than their usual prices.
Conclusion
According to Maersk, a multi-national logistics company, the E-commerce grocery retail market is estimated to grow by around 800 billion from 2020 to 2025, something that Trader’s Joe won’t be a part of unless it decides to establish an online presence.
However, that may not matter much to a company that enjoys a cult-like following among its customers, partly because it invests heavily in customer experience. Thus, while its profits may not be 1/10th of industry giants like Walmart, for Trader’s Joe, “less is more”.
