Woolworths introduces $3.50 fee for online orders
Friday, 23 January 2026
From Thursday next week, Woolworths will begin charging customers a flat $3.50 fee to pick up online orders.
Mark Wolfenden, head of ecommerce for Woolworths New Zealand, said the change reflected the need to make sure its click and collect and direct-to-boot services “remained sustainable into the future”.
He said Woolworths would make no profit from the changes, but it would allow the Australian supermarket giant to “continue to invest into incredibly convenient technology” and services.
“The fees that we charge today across delivery and pick up are only a very small proportion of the total cost … so even bringing in this fee, we're certainly not making any profit off that,” Wolfenden told The Post.
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The $3.50 fee will replace its current tiered pricing of $5 for orders under $50 and no charge for orders over $50.
Wolfenden said the changes would make it more affordable to shoppers placing smaller orders.
“Ultimately, what we want to do is to continue to provide more convenient services, particularly through direct to boot.”
Woolworths receives 25,000 online orders daily, roughly a 50/50 split between orders for click and collect and home delivery. There are 55 stores that offer the direct to boot service.
Wolfenden said many of its customers first started shopping online during the Covid-19 pandemic and it now made up 17% of Woolworths’ business.
“There's a huge volume going through, and speed is increasingly important. Over one in four orders are now either picked up or delivered within two hours.
Woolworths also operates on-demand grocery delivery app Milk Run, which it says is increasingly being used for smaller basket sizes and urgent delivery.
On the back of demand, it is about to begin trialling the delivery of alcohol in Auckland through the app. It will require ID checks at the door upon delivery.
Woolworth is investing heavily in smart technologies and agentic artificial intelligence capabilities in Australia, technology that is yet to make its way to New Zealand, including smart shopping trolleys in stores and Olive, an AI-powered virtual assistant.
Wolfenden said revenue generated from any additional income from the blanket fees on online orders would be used to invest still further in innovation, or AI and automation capabilities, such as its picking and packing machines in Auckland and Christchurch.
At its Penrose warehouse, it has an almost 6m high and 32m long machine unit imported from the United States that picks grocery items and send them along a conveyor belt for packing by staff - six times faster than going around the store.
Woolworths has recently invested in an “auto bagging” machine that then packs the filled bags into crates for delivery, which will be soon become operational.
“I think reimagining that whole shopping experience, starting right back at when you are deciding what to cook for your family, is where we'll see the greatest change over the next few years.”
Asked about Woolworths recent organisational restructure and plans to trim its workforce, Wolfenden said the renewed investment in smart technology was not a cost-saving measure.
“Our focus is on making sure ecommerce is sustainable for us. With the growth and the way customers are changing shopping, we do have to make sure that we invest in it.
“How we add automation into our operations is helping as well to make sure that we're making our team's lives easier.”