An online grocer is either a brick-and-mortar supermarket or grocery store that allows online ordering, or a standalone e-commerce service that includes grocery items There is usually a delivery charge for this service. Online grocery delivery services are available throughout America, mostly in urban centres. The online ordering is done through e-commerce websites or mobile apps.

Most local online grocers have their own drivers. The most common type of personal delivery involves storing grocery inventory in a warehouse to deliver to customers once orders are placed. Another type of personal delivery which is less common is based on just-in-time business in which there is no warehouse or inventory. In this type of delivery, customers place orders for next-day delivery. The online grocer shops for the groceries on the morning of the delivery day.

Some grocery fulfilment centres are set up as dark stores. Online-only grocers typically have warehouses or distribution centers nearby, to allow local shipping of refrigerated items.

Online grocers with a large regional or national delivery area may ship groceries using courier services. If the order contains cold or frozen items, this involves "flash freezing" the goods and pack them into special shipping containers 

Companies have experimented with automated delivery modes including drone delivery and robots. For instance, in Fall 2016 Washingthon D.C. approved a trial run of rolling delivery drones produced by Starship Technologies. The earthbound robots are similar to wheeled coolers and carry around 40 pounds of groceries

The online grocer technology platform could be developed in-house, or a third party's platform could be re-used and customized to reflect the company brand and provide unique features. In some cases, all management and support tasks are being outsourced to the platform provider.