Vitacost Shopping Experience Review

I decided that I am tired of Amazon and Whole Foods and it is time to try something totally different. I wanted to find a company that specializes in natural products and items for health and home. After talking to my friend who’s all about organic and natural everything, I decided Vitacost might just be what I am looking for.

Vitacost is an online retailer that’s owned by Kroger Corporation and has been in operation since 1994. My friend has been ordering from them for years now and she remains loyal, which speaks volumes to me. I was getting slowly disillusioned by Amazon and their indifference to their customers. It seems that they became too big to care. It’s unfortunate, but I am not going to dwell on it for very long.

Vitacost specializes in all things natural and organic, or at least healthier than many other offers on the market. This is exactly what I want to be able to buy for my family, but I don’t always have time to go all over the place looking for particular items. From my experience I can say that there is no one store where I can get everything I need, so I always have to do quite a bit of driving around.  And Amazon is not only quite expensive, but doesn’t always have everything I need either.

Long story short, I wanted to allocate $50 and see what that would give me on Vitacost.com. I know it wouldn’t get me any more than 2-3 lotions on Amazon, Whole Foods, and Sprouts.

Vitacost met me with very well organized website. Everything is very clear and nicely categorized. You could shop by departments or choose merchandise by most popular brands, recipes and articles about them, upcoming holiday merchandise, and special deals. Their departments include:

• Vitacost Brands
• Vitamins and Supplements
• Food and Beverage
• Beauty and Personal Care
• Sports and Fitness
• Herbs and Botanicals
• Babies and Kids
• Diet Products
• Natural Home
• Pet Health
• Professional Lines
• All Brands

To be honest, I didn’t expect to see so many different items and categories; I just expected some vitamins and supplements. Needless to say, I had no problem collecting 9 items into my shopping cart. Imagine being able to find 9 items for $50 on Amazon!

I started my shopping at Clearance section and found Dr. Bronner’s organic lip balm 2 pack and Pur sugar free mints for just a couple of dollars each. Clearance also has many dog toys, pet food, health and beauty supplies, diet foods, and fitness products.

Out of curiosity I decided to compare prices of the same items on Amazon. 2 out 9 were Vitacost brand, so Amazon didn’t even have them. The other 7 were all more expensive there, sometimes even more than 50%. That confirmed what my friend was always telling me – Vitacost is way cheaper.

What I also liked very much is all the discounts and coupons available at Vitacost. As soon as you come to the website, you are offered to save 20% on your order with email list sign-up. Email newsletters are the best way to stay informed about all current and upcoming deals and promo codes, so I will sign up before I’ll have a bigger order.

When I visited the site for the first time for my $50 shopping spree, Vitacost advertised 20% off select beauty products, which I took advantage of as 4 of my items were from that category. Today there are 20% savings on gummy vitamins and supplements and 20% off select Valentine’s Day gifts. I am sure there are savings to be had every day of month, in addition to great deals on Clearance. Even without discounts, all my chosen products were cheaper than on Amazon.

I also love the fact that shipping is always free on orders above $49 and there are no membership fees.

It took 4 days to receive my order and everything came neatly packed and not broken. There was one small problem though – one of my ordered items didn’t come. After I placed my order, I received an email notifying that my chosen bronzer is sold out and I won’t be charged for it. It said that only 1 was left in stock, but I guess it was a mistake. I could live without it easily and didn’t get too upset about it. I did notice that many items in Clearance section were sold out, so I guess one shouldn’t wait around for too long after something goes on clearance.

And then something funny happened when my order came. I opened the box and there was an invoice on top saying Thank you, Linda, for your order! But I am not Linda! The invoice informed me that I ordered 1 Laundry Detergent for $0.00. I dug into the box content in panic, but was relieved to find that it contained another invoice with my name and all the stuff I ordered. This might not be funny for people with weaker hearts and more urgent needs than me though!

Given all my pleasant experience from start to finish, I will be back and I will be ordering more as long as I will be able to collect $49 worth of items to avoid shipping charges. I am very happy to have found Vitacost!