CINCINNATI — Nearly a dozen Kroger stores in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas will ultimately offer online ordering.
Kroger spokeswoman Patty Leesemann confirmed to WCPO media partner the Journal-News that eleven stores in southwest Ohio will join the Liberty Township, Lebanon, Finneytown, and Monfort Heights stores in offering online shopping and store pickup.
Stores in the Louisville area, Indiana and Oregon have also launched online ordering, Leesemann told the Journal-News.
Most of the local stores slated to get online shopping options in 2015 are in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, including a new Oakley Kroger Marketplace that opened its doors Thursday.
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And more are coming next year, officials said.
The new service that began rolling out this year does not just mean a new level of convenience for Kroger customers. It also means as many as 100 new jobs available in preparation for the online ordering rollout.
“We are investing to grow our business for the future, while delivering on our promises today,” said Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen, in a statement released Friday.
Currently, Kroger has roughly 1,100 job openings in the region. On Tuesday, September 15, all area Kroger stores will hold open interviews from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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How will online ordering work? Customers build a cart on Kroger’s website and select a pick-up time and location. Then, a Kroger employee hand-picks items and stores them in proper temperature zones. A customer can pay for the purchase in a drive-thru without ever leaving their car, and Kroger employees will even load the bags into the vehicle.
Along with the announcement Friday, Kroger released financial results for the fiscal second quarter ending August 15. Profits last quarter came in at $433 million, exceeding last year by $86 million, the Journal-News reports.
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Chelsey Levingston with the Journal-News contributed to this report. Read Levingston's original report here.
