 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online grocer |
| Founded | 1989; 36 years ago (1989) |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of employees | 4,600 (2017[1]) |
| Parent | Ahold Delhaize |
| Website | www |
Peapod Online Grocer (US), LLC is an Americanonline grocery delivery service.[2] By February 2022, it changed its name to Peapod Digital Labs.[3]
The company is based inChicago, IL and operated in several U.S. cities. It is owned by Netherlands-basedAhold Delhaize, which operatesStop & Shop,Food Lion,Giant-Landover in the USA, and other supermarkets in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Greece, Serbia and Romania. It used to deliver from its own Chicago-area and other warehouses in the Midwest until its Midwest operations ceased in early 2020.[4]
Peapod online grocery had operations in 24 U.S. urban markets, and was once the largest online grocery delivery company in the United States.[5][6]
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Peapod Online Grocer (US) was founded in 1989 by Andrew Parkinson and Thomas Parkinson.[2] One early proposal for a name for the new company was IPOD, an acronym for Information and Product On Demand. The brothers, taking marketing considerations into account, decided on the friendlier sounding "Peapod" instead.[7] Before 1996, Peapod Online Grocer (US) provided an online grocery shopping service in a partnership withJewel supermarket inChicago, Illinois[2] and surrounding towns;Kroger inColumbus, Ohio;Randall's inHouston, Texas, andSafeway inSan Francisco, California in 1993.[2]
In 1996, the company launched its website[2] and became one of the earliest internetstart-ups; the company ranked 69th on theInc. 500 list of fast-growing privately held U.S. companies.[8] That year the company held anIPO onNASDAQ. Between 1997 and 2000, Peapod expanded intoBoston andWatertown, Massachusetts,Long Island, New York, andNorwalk, Connecticut in partnership withStop & Shop. In late 2000, they added Washington, D.C., and surrounding towns throughGiant of Landover, and in 2011 they also started serving thePhiladelphia market withGiant of Carlisle andManhattan withStop & Shop.[9][10]
In October 2017, Peapod Online Grocer (US) announced it was moving its headquarters from suburbanSkokie, Illinois to downtownChicago.[11]
In 2019, Peapod held 9% of the online grocery delivery market in New York City, behindFreshDirect (68%),Instacart (13%), andAmazon Fresh (9%).[12]
In February 2020, Peapod announced they would be ceasing operations in the Midwest (Illinois,Indiana, andWisconsin) and focus exclusively on serving the East Coast.[4] However, the headquarters for Peapod Digital Labs, which runs the e-commerce technology for Ahold Delhaize's U.S. grocery brands, remained in downtown Chicago.
In June 2000, global grocery corporationRoyal Ahold bought 51% of Peapod'sshares,[13] and in August 2001, Royal Ahold bought out the entire company.[14] As a result, Peapod cancelled its contracts with all grocery companies except for Royal Ahold's two main American chains, Stop & Shop and Giant Food (Giant-Landover andGiant-Carlisle).[14] This caused Peapod to abandonColumbus,Houston, andSan Francisco entirely.
In February 2012, Peapod introduced signs at someSEPTA Regional Rail stations inPhiladelphia which enabledsmartphone users to shop for groceries using Peapod'smobile app on their phone and scanning thebarcodes of items listed on the signs.[15] The grocery delivery occurred later in the day.[15]
In 2017, Peapod Online Grocer (US) was described by food website Organic Authority as "one of the oldest and most popular online grocery services in the marketplace."[16]
In 2017, theNPD Group's Chief Food Industry Analyst, Harry Balzer, considers Peapod the top online grocery delivery service and believes that could be used as a model for delivery services, such asAmazon andWalmart, if they move into the business of online groceries.[17]
Online food ordering services | |
|---|---|
| Meal delivery | |
| Meal kits | |
| Online grocery delivery | |
| Reservations | |
| Defunct | |
| Software | |
