Peapod Positioning Statement

Peapod brings a world of food to your door
Online grocer the solution to today's busy lifestyle

SKOKIE, Ill., -- For millions of consumers across the US, the reassuring sight of the familiar Peapod truck means an alternative trip to the grocery store is unnecessary; a complete selection of hand-picked groceries, products for the home, personal care items, pet goods and even office and school supplies are on their way to their homes, making life just a little easier.

Peapod, the online grocery store started in 1989 by brothers Andrew and Thomas Parkinson, has grown from the small shopping and delivery service the Parkinsons operated themselves with help from family and friends to become a major internet player. Peapod having served more than 13 million customers has secured its position as the country’s leading internet grocer, serving 22 U.S. markets. Now owned by Royal Ahold and working closely with Stop & Shop and Giant Foods, Peapod has sweepingly changed the way Americans shop for food.

"Customers see us for what we are: a lifestyle solution designed around their busy schedules," says Andrew Parkinson, company founder and president. "Our lives are more demanding than ever, and Peapod makes it possible to keep up with them."

Selection just a click away
With more than 8,000 products for shoppers to choose from, Peapod boasts not just the expected selection of grocery basics, but also farm-fresh produce; restaurant-quality meats and seafood; diverse prepared foods and party trays; deli meats and cheeses (sliced to order); Kosher, organic and specialty foods; a vast selection of produce; a variety of beer, wine and beverages (in select markets); pet supplies; videos; office and school supplies and private label products from supermarket partners Stop & Shop and Giant.

Peapod enhances and organizes the shopping experience by organizing products and purchase history to ease the shopping experience with features including:

Weekly Specials - click the "specials" tab for hundreds of weekly specials; or look for the red tags as you browse
New Items - look for the new arrivals icon, highlighting new products and newly-stocked items throughout the site
Express Shop - jot down a shopping list in the notepad; product matches will display all at once
Shopping Lists - create new shopping lists; pull up previous orders; save personalized lists (like a holiday list)
Sort Feature - sort products by price, nutritional content (including carbs) or even best-seller status
NutriFilter - make smart food choices quickly and easily by sifting through all products and highlighting the ones that meet your nutritional goals
Aisle Browsing - browse for products in a traditional grocery store aisle format
Item Search - enter an item or brand name in the search field to locate specific products
Coupons - redeem manufacturer coupons with Peapod drivers ; coupons are credited to customers accounts. Peapod also offers exclusive online coupons
Recipes & More - find recipes from leading brands and special promotions

Another signature Peapod experience is the tailored product offerings. In Chicago, for example, perishables are sourced locally from South Water Market, one of the largest produce hubs in the country. And the grocer's "Chicago's Best" lineup offers Windy City residents a top selection of hometown foods, from Wildfire signature filets to the famous Gino's East Pizza.

Quality Selection
Working in one of the company's two state-of-the-art freestanding warehouses (in Chicago and Washington) or in any of 21 smaller warerooms (in the Stop & Shop markets), Peapod personal shoppers are trained to select quality meats and seafood and to improve the ritual of hand-picking, squeezing and smelling perishables. Customers can even provide directives for some picks, for example by selecting yellow or green bananas and thin or thick-sliced deli meats when they shop.

"The biggest hurdle was convincing consumers they could shop online and still maintain control over the quality of their picks," says Andrew Parkinson, company founder and president. "That's been Peapod's cornerstone all along. "

Once assembled, customer orders are carefully packed in bags and special temperature-controlled, crush-proof containers. The company's Stay Fresh delivery system exceeds food safety standards and maintains products at their optimum temperature and freshness, from the distribution center all the way to a customer's front door.

"Our warehouses and warerooms maintain different climate zones for each food category, " says Parkinson. "It is quality assurance that frozen items like ice cream will arrive rock-hard but that delicate perishables like produce won't. "

Once orders are fulfilled, Peapod trucks fan out to make deliveries into neighborhoods around the country. For a fee as low as $6.95, most customers can place orders for delivery as soon as next-day (normally within a two-hour window) or even days or weeks in advance.

For customers, Peapod combines the value of a well-priced, diverse product selection with the ease of Internet shopping and delivery. It's a smart supermarket experience for a range of consumers: dual career couples stocking up on basics for their families, time-starved professionals seeking the convenience of prepared foods, epicures in search of natural, organic and specialty fare, new parents with a need for baby products or personal health and beauty aids, singles who prefer to not have to lug heavy shopping bags and even office managers who want to offer their employees snacks without wasting staff time shopping in stores.

Founded in 1989 as a smart shopping option for busy people, Peapod today stands as the country's leading Internet grocer, serving 22 U.S. markets in communities in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. The Skokie, Illinois-based company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Ahold in The Netherlands, has achieved over 13 million deliveries since its late 1980s inception. For more information on Peapod, call 1.800.5.PEAPOD (573.2763) e-mail service@peapod.com or visit www.peapod.com.