Two new services, Thrive and DashMart, are added to online shopping with SNAP
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that is part of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and provides food assistance to low-income individuals and households. The program expanded and modernized its coverage and now allows beneficiaries to redeem their benefits online at two additional retailers, Thrive and DashMart.
Currently, SNAP beneficiaries can shop online at more than 200 of the program’s authorized retailers, including Costco, Target, Walgreens and Walmart. However, this is the first time the program has allowed traditional retailers to take advantage of the benefits. Of course, not all states allow the same retailers to receive SNAP benefits, but the presence of a physical location was generally important for beneficiaries to shop on the premises.
Thrive and DashMart are the test services for a new FNS model that covers online retailers as part of the SNAP program. If all goes as planned, online retailers whose business models match SNAP eligibility requirements could be added to the list. This will give SNAP recipients more options for spending their benefits.
These two new built-in services are unlike any other that FNS has worked with in the past. Thrive, launched in 2014, is a membership-based food ordering and discovery app. The company is following Costco’s lead by offering customers «home delivery of a variety of healthy, high-quality foods» for just $60 a year, but SNAP recipients are exempt from that fee. DashMart is an online grocery store operated by Doordash that offers groceries and household cleaning supplies exclusively online.
The goal of adding these two new retailers to the SNAP portfolio is to offer SNAP beneficiaries more choices, «especially those living in areas with limited food access, allowing them the same convenience and variety of options that all Americans enjoy when it comes to grocery shopping,» an FNS release explains. In fact, most SNAP recipients turn to online platforms to make the majority of their monthly purchases.
The trend toward online shopping doesn’t just affect SNAP users; it’s universal. More and more Americans are choosing to shop online because of the convenience, time savings, and the ability to avoid food waste and aisle temptations. Over time, service issues have been resolved and people have learned to use this method effectively. This trend has grown so much that, according to a 2022 PYMNTS survey, «one in six Americans (15.8%) placed online grocery orders at home each week.»
The SNAP program that allows for online purchases is relatively new. It began as a pilot in 2019 and was significantly expanded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This expansion was critical to ensure that program beneficiaries were able to securely obtain their basic necessities during the most critical times of the pandemic. However, the trend toward online purchasing was already underway prior to the pandemic, and SNAP users have continued to adopt this method of purchasing. As a result, ongoing adjustments have been made to accommodate the changing needs and preferences of SNAP beneficiaries.
A study published in November 2023 in Food Policy revealed that allowing SNAP beneficiaries to purchase food online had a positive impact on their finances and on reducing food insecurity. The availability of virtual coupons, featured offers, and shipping services helped make this option more accessible. According to the study, during the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the proportion of households that often or sometimes faced food insufficiency decreased from 24.5% to 22.5% with the implementation of online shopping.