Independent grocery chain IGA is launching a national grocery delivery service, IGA Shop.

The new online option follows the chain’s Priority Shop, introduced recently to deliver groceries to those in need during the COVID-19 crisis.

While the priority service was limited to Australia’s most vulnerable consumers, the IGA Shop offering is available to everyone in the community.

As the stores are local family owned businesses, the range and pricing may vary, and so the final cost will be confirmed between the owner and customer.

IGA has selected over 1,800 essential and popular items that are commonly stocked at most of the more than 1400 stores around the country.

More products, features and delivery areas will be added weekly.

IGA is part of the Metcash wholesale group which includes other independent chains such as Home Timber & Hardware, Campbells, Mitre 10, Cellarbrations and  Foodland.

Danielle Jenkinson, EGM Retail Channels, Metcash Food said “As independent family owned businesses, many IGA stores have been providing online shopping and home delivery services to their local communities for some time.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer an online service from even more IGA stores across Australia and to further support our local communities.’’ 

“While we prefer to serve our customers face to face, we’ve developed this online solution because we know some of our local shoppers aren’t able to get out to the shops right now or would prefer to stay away,” Jenkinson said.

IGA is not the only convenience store business to take this step to boost franchisees’ engagement with the local community.

The 7-Eleven chain announced in April it was trialling home delivery services from select stores in Melbourne, with plans to expand the offer across other outlets in time.