Stater Bros. Teams With Mercatus on Online Grocery Service

Stater Bros. Markets has selected grocery e-commerce solutions provider Mercatus to enhance the grocer’s digital grocery offering with a retailer-branded and -controlled online shopping experience that will grow along with its business.

By transitioning to Mercatus’ software-as-as-service (SaaS) platform, Stater Bros. aims to boost its digital grocery capabilities with curbside and delivery options.

“Now more than ever, our customers are looking for the convenience of shopping online,” said Stater Bros. CEO Pete Van Helden. “We see this as an opportunity to build stronger relationships with our shoppers through an e-commerce journey that truly embodies our brand’s promise of excellence in food and service. With the Mercatus platform, we’re excited to offer a wide range of services and options to make online shopping even more rewarding.”

Mercatus’ solution will provide an online shopping site that’s fully responsive for optimized browsing on any device and a complete e-commerce mobile app. Customers can shop all Stater Bros. products, including prepared meals and customized deli foods. Customers can choose from contactless curbside pickup or delivery, and will be able to pay online with SNAP EBT or EBT Cash benefits.

Stater Bros.’ online experience will also include Mercatus’ Enhanced Fulfillment capability, powered by ADC’s ShopperKit and Flybuy. Via Tampa, Fla.-based ShopperKit, the grocer will be able to scale its digital shopping experience by managing all in-store fulfillment activities connected to online orders, helping the grocer maximize operational efficiencies to drive growth and profitability. Meanwhile, the retailer will use Washington, D.C.-based Flybuy’s geolocation technology to shorten the handoff of pickup orders to curbside customers to two minutes or under. Stater Bros. will also be able to employ Mercatus’ integrated digital advertising capability. The turnkey solution, powered by Australian company CitrusAd, will help Stater Bros. claim its share of CPG digital advertising dollars and spur further revenue from its online grocery experience. 

“We want to thank Stater Bros. Markets for its partnership and welcome this iconic retailer to our roster of grocery retail clients,” said Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO of Toronto-based Mercatus. “We look forward to working closely with the team at Stater Bros. to roll out a differentiated online shopping offering that will give the grocer the ability to strengthen connections to its customers and improve contribution margin in the process.”

The Mercatus Integrated Commerce platform is used by such other retailers as Weis Markets, Save Mart, Brookshire Grocery Co., WinCo Foods and Smart & Final.

The largest privately owned supermarket chain in Southern California and the largest private employer in both San Bernardino and Riverside counties, San Bernardino-based Stater Bros. operates 170 supermarkets and employs about 18,000 associates. The company is No. 54 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Boise, Idaho-based WinCo is No. 44; Modesto, Calif.-based Save Mart is No. 51; Commerce, Calif.-based Smart & Final is No. 59; Sunbury, Pa.-based Weis Markets is No. 60; and Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire Grocery Co. is No. 62 on PG’s list.