Local Since Forever, Growing for Tomorrow: How Piggly Wiggly Midwest Is Modernizing Independent Grocery

Piggly Wiggly Midwest won a 2026 Instacart Independent Grocery Award for launching their owned ecommerce program on Storefront Pro across 83 store locations and enabling pickup at over 10 retail locations. 

There’s a good chance that if you’re talking to someone from Wisconsin or northern Illinois about grocery stores, Piggly Wiggly comes up. Even if you’re not from there, just saying the name likely makes you smile. 

This Midwest institution certainly has done a great job with their branding. They have a beloved mascot named Mr. Pig. And their loyalty program is called Pig Points. This gives the impression of something a little different, certainly. But it’s the value, quality, and a positive customer experience  they offer, and their community connection, which sets them apart. 

Piggly Wiggly faces the same challenges that many independent grocers face. Big box national retailers are encroaching on the often small-town communities they serve. While completely new competitors for ‘share of stomach’ have cropped up, like meal-kit providers, a plethora of new takeout delivery options, and grocery ecommerce, which were unheard of not even ten years ago.   

To grow in this environment, they aimed to modernize their customer experience to attract customers from a new, younger demographic. This is how they did it.   

Meeting the modern grocery consumer 

Piggly Wiggly noticed a significant shift in customer expectations. Where price and quality were once enough to win, they now see convenience as a driving factor for where consumers choose to shop. And many expect to be able to shop for groceries online. 

“What I’d say to any independent grocer about getting online is to get started now, you’re already behind,” said Terry Goins, Director of Marketing & Advertising, Piggly Wiggly Midwest. “Your customers are already ordering groceries online — the question is whether they're ordering from you or from someone else.” 

This is especially true for generations who have grown up with the internet or now with smartphones. And the rise of ecommerce in other verticals means many consumers have an expectation that anything they want can be bought online and delivered. This convenience slots so seamlessly into modern life that many consumers expect it. And they just don’t have time to shop any other way. 

"Offering the convenience of online grocery means we can invite a younger customer to shop at Piggly Wiggly. I use my wife as an example — she's 38 years old, mom of three, on the go,” said Goins. “I can't even tell you the last time she stepped into a grocery store, and I work for a grocery chain."

The question then wasn’t whether to offer an ecommerce experience, it was how to build one that still felt like Piggly Wiggly. 

Choosing a partner, not just a platform

When Goins and his team began evaluating ecommerce solutions, the requirements were specific. With a franchise model operating across dozens of independent locations, any solution needed to work within a complex operational structure, supporting delivery and curbside pickup rollout store by store, integrating with existing loyalty infrastructure, and maintaining the brand identity their shoppers had trusted for decades.

“We were looking for a partner who understands the challenges facing an independent grocer model.”

They selected Instacart as their partner and implemented Storefront Pro, Instacart’s enterprise-grade, white-label ecommerce solution, as their digital grocery platform. Storefront Pro is built on the same proven infrastructure that powers millions of Instacart Marketplace orders every week, generating retailers new revenue while reducing cost and complexity.

Storefront Pro gave Piggly Wiggly Midwest the ability to own and control their digital shopping experience end-to-end — on their own branded storefront, with their own logo, their own promotions, and their Pig Points loyalty program woven throughout.

"It’s key that it’s seamless," Goins explains. "Our customers shouldn't feel like they're using a different company when they order online versus walking into the store. Storefront Pro lets us maintain brand consistency across the digital experience. And when we integrate that with in-store promotions and our Pig Points loyalty program, it creates a connected experience where customers are earning and redeeming regardless of how they choose to shop."

The lesson for independent grocers

Independent grocers can take a few lessons from Piggly Wiggly’s experience implementing ecommerce, with the most important being to really pressure test your thinking and assumptions. Understand the experience from the perspective of your different stakeholders. The customer is first and foremost, but also what it entails for the staff, for store management. And then involve those stakeholders early and often. 

“I’d recommend going to a store already using Instacart to really see what click-and-collect looks like on the ground,” Goins said, “and then involve your store managers early on. Get to those operational considerations as soon as you can.”

Here are four lessons for independent grocers— 

1. Start now. Your customers are already shopping for groceries online. If they can’t find you, they’re shopping somewhere else. So get started today, implementing your ecommerce solution. 

2. Ask a ton of questions. Test and challenge assumptions. If something’s not clear, ask clarifying questions. You are building the customer experience for everyone who visits you online, so there’s no detail too small to get right. 

3. Look for a partner and a solution built for independent grocery. Look for someone who understands the grocery industry and independent grocers specifically. The challenges and use cases that are the norm for independent operators don’t match those of other industries and verticals. The right ecommerce partner understands that and builds solutions that work within it, not around it.

4. Think beyond the transaction. Ecommerce is a sales channel, but it's also a data channel. Every order, every item, every loyalty redemption can build a profile to power more relevant promotions, smarter inventory decisions, and personalized experiences. Make sure you have a plan to leverage this valuable data. 

Growth week over week, year over year

The results of Piggly Wiggly Midwest's ecommerce investment are clear. Since launching Storefront Pro and curbside pickup, the business has seen week-over-week and year-over-year ecommerce growth consistently trending upward. Goins describes total ecommerce sales as "significantly up" versus the prior year.

Customer response has validated the investment. Piggly Wiggly Midwest consistently tracks customer satisfaction ratings in the 4.8 to 4.9 out of 5 range across their ecommerce and curbside experience — a meaningful signal that the convenience their shoppers expected is actually being delivered.

The team isn't standing still. To accelerate adoption, they've invested in promoting the service and offering incentives like no fee delivery to bring first-time online shoppers into the experience. Even among their older customers — not the typical early adopters of digital grocery — Goins has been pleasantly surprised.

"You'd be surprised how many calls we get from older shoppers wanting to figure it out," said Goins. "There's more openness than you'd expect."

Ultimately, independent grocery stores like Piggly Wiggly can compete online, offering quality products and a great online customer experience, with the right ecommerce solution, one built specifically for grocery. 

Through it all, Goins is clear about what won’t change at Piggly Wiggly — the local-first mentality with dedicated owner-operators sourcing Wisconsin-made kringle, greeting regulars by name, and serving their community. 

"Our motto is local since forever," Goins says. "That's important to our customers. They respect it. And that's not changing."

Interested in learning how Instacart Storefront Pro can help your grocery business grow its ecommerce presence? Talk to our team.

Piggly Wiggly Midwest is a 2026 Instacart Independent Grocery Award winner, recognized for innovation in ecommerce and omnichannel grocery experience.

^{Past performance does not promise future results, and outcomes may vary by brand.}