We are really spoilt for choice these days with the growing number of online grocers that really help us save so much time and money. If you’re still getting your everyday groceries the conventional way by going to the market or supermarket, read on and also find out how you can get $10 off $20 on your first Honestbee order (that’s 50% off!).
Perhaps some of you would still prefer the offline method because you want to be able to see and touch the products before purchasing or accumulate your spending to earn rewards & rebates on your shopping cards. Maybe you are skeptical about such service because you aren’t sure if the products you are receiving will be accurate and in good order. Or maybe there are better promotions in-store hence you can save more. Well, this was exactly what went through my mind previously. However, after I started online shopping for my home & cooking needs, I realised the pros of it really outweighed the cons.
This time round, I just want to talk about something different besides just ordering stuffs off a website and have them delivered to your home which is what I’ve also blogged about before. Read Redmart Singapore – A Convenient Online Grocer That Saves You Time And Money.
I want to share about my latest experience with Honestbee that offers not just doorstep grocery delivery but also specialised concierge service. That means a dedicated shopper will be assigned to do your shopping for you. They don’t have a warehouse or inventory so the things that you order will only be purchased on the same day as delivery hence what you get will be what you see in-store – you just don’t have to make the trip yourself.
How good is that?
This was my recent haul of groceries from Fairprice ordered through Honestbee. As mentioned, everything is purchased only on the day of delivery so freshness is always guaranteed. ??
The available merchant stores on the Honestbee website may differ depending on where you live. From the list, you can select one where you’d normally do your daily/weekly grocery shopping. Only one store can be selected per order.
For example, I selected Fairprice. The inventory you see here is the same as what you will see on the Fairprice website. However, not every product is priced the same as what’s shown on the Fairprice website or in-store because weekly promotions or deals may not be updated that quickly on the Honestbee system. Fret not as you can still add those products into your cart as your final bill will depend on in-store purchases and not based on prices on the Honestbee website so what is being charged by Honestbee is exactly what you will be paying when you checkout at Fairprice supermarket. No mark up or anything like this.
When you add an item to cart, there is also this section that allows you to tell the shopper on what to do should the item be out of stock in-store. You can either pick a substitute or let the shopper suggest and he/she will inform you what’s available so you can decide to accept or not.
You can also add further instructions for your shopper.
For example, I selected Listerine Green Tea Mouthwash as my main product and I picked Listerine Cool Mint Mouthwash as my substitute in case the green tea one wasn’t available. I saw on Fairprice website that there was a ‘Buy 2, Get $4.95’ off promotion but this wasn’t reflected on Honestbee website so I indicated on the instructions to tell my shopper to proceed with the purchase only if the promotion was on in-store.
You can basically indicate your substitute options and instructions for every item you want. Just go to your cart and do for all.
I’m pretty specific about what I want so I will just indicate my instructions accordingly. Can even ask the shopper to help get my chicken chopped up at the Butcher section because the Fairprice near me offers such service. You just have to be clear about what you want so it makes things easier for your shopper too.
Made a few mistakes though and the shopper couldn’t help me get substitutes. For example, I wanted long beans but couldn’t find them on the Honestbee website. Hence I indicated my request under another similar product. However, I did not allow a substitution so even though my shopper had read my request, she couldn’t make the swap for me as she couldn’t change the system on her side. Same went for the seedless grapes that I wanted. I added that I was looking for the Pasar brand of grapes but I did not allow a substitution so I couldn’t get it swapped with what I wanted and hence I had to cancel the item.
Just bear in mind, if you are looking for something else that is not the one you’ve selected, you have to pick the option of ‘Let shopper suggest’ and then tell your shopper what you want under the instructions column.
My shopper started doing the shopping approx. 1 1/2 – 2 hours before my requested time for delivery. As stock availability depends on individual store, it is inevitable that some things you want may be out of stock. When that happens, you will receive either a phone call or SMS from your shopper to inform you what is out of stock and what are the available substitutes for those items which you allow substitutions. You can then respond if you want to accept or cancel.
This whole service is probably not as straight-forward as you think. It is a bit of a hassle to compare prices against the merchant website or check out existing promotions/deals just to make sure you’re not missing out on something. But this extra hassle doesn’t take up a lot of time. My shopper was very polite and easy-going. And it was a breeze to communicate with her on the phone while she was getting my things at the supermarket. Maybe because we were on the same wavelength (or rather, we had the same grocery shopping standards, haha). I was happy with her service and with what she had chosen for me. Delivery was very on time too. The whole experience totally exceeded my expectations.
This concierge shopping comes with a small fee that may differ from store to store. For my order, it was a mere $3 which was money well spent.
The Pros
- Need not leave the house so I could use that time to do other things.
- Didn’t have to queue up and wait (thank goodness!) because the crowd could be insane on weekends.
- No lugging of heavy bags of groceries myself.
- No transport fee incurred.
- Shopper can do the first round of QC to make sure products are in good order.
- Enjoy greater savings with available promo codes.
Do note your credit card will only be charged after your order has been delivered to you as they have to make adjustments based on in-store prices and if items are out of stock. So the only extras that we need to pay are just the concierge fee and/or delivery fee (if you don’t meet the min. order).
Now you can receive S$10 off your first purchase of min. order S$20 if you sign up for an account here. It’s a pretty good deal as there’s never a discount when you shop in-store so having S$10 off your usual grocery shopping is quite a decent percentage of savings. What are you waiting for? 🙂