Simpsonville, S.C., residents are among the scores of people who will be able to receive home grocery delivery from Sprouts Farmers Markets starting March 5. Located at 2200 Woodruff Road, the Simpsonville store is the sole Sprouts in South Carolina. It will join stores in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee offering delivery for the first time.  

Sprouts has partnered with the emerging e-delivery fave Instacart to offer delivery in as little as an hour. Would-be customers can sign up for the service by downloading the Sprouts app or visiting delivery.sprouts.com. 

“Each week, millions of guests turn to Sprouts for their healthy grocery needs and delivery is another way for us to reach them wherever they are in their busy lives and healthy living journeys,” said Chief Customer Officer Shawn Gensch in a press release. “Our guests know they can count on Sprouts for freshness, convenience and value – both in-store and online – and we believe this supports the program’s strong sequential growth.”

Sprouts isn't the only grocery retailier making the news this week. Earlier, it was revealed that Amazon would be launching a new grocery chain in an expansion of their delivering-to-your-doorstep empire, according to the Wall Street Journal. This brand will reportedly be separate from Whole Foods, which Amazon acquired in late summer 2017. 

That acquisition hasn't been without headaches, including reports of sparsely stocked shelves. However, costs on some items have dropped, although recent reports indicate prices are rising at the retailer. 

While online shopping has been introduced in markets across the country -- the big boy of the big box world, Walmart, has been offering online ordering and onsite pickup for several years now -- online shopping remains a tiny segment of the grocery industry, boasting a market pentration of 3%, with only 6% of total shoppers using online services more than once a month, according to a recent survey. 

Still, few, if any, experts believe these figures will remain this low in the years to come. 

Online shopping and delivery aren't the only trends impacting the grocery business. The consumer packaged goods marketing agency Acosta predicts a number of impacting factors for the industry, from the resurgence of frozen foods to the continued renaissance of the in-store shopping experience (think: Lowe's Foods) and the rise of CBD additives.

New Instacart customers shopping at Sprouts in Simpsonville will receive $20 off their first delivery if valued $35 or more with the promo code SPROUTS20, according to the Sprouts press release.