Stuart Parker admits that online shopping was something North Bay was already warming up to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their online business was at about 4 per cent before the crisis when the company average was around 2 per cent.
Now Parker says online has absorbed close to 15 per cent of their business.
"What happens now with online is obviously adjusting to that shift in business from customers pushing a cart around to us pushing a cart for them," said Parker.
"Obviously, there are some labour components involved there and there are also some safety concerns and some room. We are shopping a full day in advance for 100 customers with an average basket size being quite high because there is such a long wait time. So there is a lot of business going through PC Express."
Parker has had to build new racks and refrigeration units near the front of the store where the employees can store the orders which are done the day before.
The challenge now is with the demand, and how to make it worthwhile for customers since the turnover time from making the order to picking it up can be up to 10 days.
"We have got more bodies in place so now we are slowly ramping the dial-up to accept more orders per day and hopefully find a spot where it is only a one or two-day turnaround to look after customers," said Parker.
"Right now we are about nine or 10 days out which I do not like but the demand is just that strong."
However, he is optimistic they can continue to adapt to this new form of grocery shopping.
"I don't know where the ceiling is but it is certainly higher than our maximum capacity right now on online now," he said.
