Walmart now has grocery delivery in Raleigh. How does it compare to Food Lion and Whole Foods?

Following in the footsteps of Food Lion and Whole Foods, retail and supermarket giant Walmart officially expanded its grocery home delivery service this week to 10 stores in the Raleigh area, including stores in Wake Forest and Zebulon.

Walmart, like Harris Teeter, Food Lion and other local grocery stores, already offers online shopping with curbside pickup. But home delivery is a service more in demand, and more grocery chains are adding the option (for a price).

We compare the fees of Walmart, Food Lion and Whole Foods/Amazon below, but first, more on Walmart’s big announcement.

Here’s how Walmart’s new delivery service works:

▪ Pick out your groceries online at walmart.com/grocery or through the Walmart grocery mobile app. You’ll sign in and enter your zip code so that the appropriate store is selected.

▪ When you check out, select the time you want the groceries delivered. Same day delivery is available, and the groceries will be delivered within a one-hour window of the time you request.

▪ When you pay, you’ll be charged a $9.95 delivery fee. No need to pay anything else when the groceries are delivered. You can get your first order — $50 minimum order — delivered free with the promo code FRESHCAR.

Walmart vs. Amazon vs. Food Lion

Amazon Prime already offers free home grocery delivery Raleigh, with groceries coming from Whole Foods. Food Lion also offers home delivery. How do the services compare? (Note: Harris Teeter offers home grocery delivery in some markets, but not currently in Raleigh. Publix offers home delivery here but wouldn’t show delivery charges without making me sign up, so they are not included here.)

▪ Except for that first time FRESHCAR promo code (with a $50 purchase), Walmart does charge a $9.95 delivery fee for each delivery.

▪ Amazon Prime offers two-hour delivery from Whole Foods with no delivery fee for orders of $35 or more. (You can get one-hour delivery for $7.99.) The Whole Foods delivery service is available 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.

▪ Amazon Prime does have a subscription fee of $119 per year (which also includes free shipping on most Amazon.com products plus streaming television, movies and music). Walmart and Food Lion delivery services do not require a subscription fee. So you’ll have to do the math on how often you think you’ll use the services to see which service is best for you. If you order from Walmart 12 times, for example, you’ve essentially paid the Amazon subscription fee (and you get other stuff like free shipping and TV shows) — but with Amazon, you are limited to the types of groceries sold by Whole Foods.

▪ Food Lion gives you your first delivery for free, but after that it’s a $5.99 delivery fee for orders $35 and over, $9.99 for smaller orders.

▪ If you really love Whole Foods, which specializes in natural and organic food, that may be a better service for you. But it’s fair to say Walmart and Food Lion groceries cost significantly less than Whole Foods groceries, so the cost of the groceries is something to consider.