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A little over a month ago, I had a reader leave a comment on a popular Thrive Market review post that I have that really left me stumped. She was asking if Thrive Market was honestly that much better in its pricing than Vitacost. I knew very little about this online retailer, other than the fact that they sold supplements. I had no idea that they offered a wide array of organic food with online delivery.
So I took it upon myself to do a cost comparison during my most recent Thrive Market order. You can see exactly what I purchased and hear pricing information in this video.
Thrive Market came out ahead with my particular order. I purchased 12 different types of items, and Thrive Market’s prices were better for 8 of those items. Sometimes they only bested Vitacost by a little over a quarter, and sometimes they bested Vitacost by several dollars. I believe that if you plan on purchasing a significant amount of groceries online from a retailer each month (at least $100) then you will come out ahead by getting the Thrive Market membership (which is $59) instead of just purchasing everything from Vitacost.
If your shopping is going to be a bit more sporadic, though, it might be a wash. But that’s honestly the case any time you join a membership organization. You need to be prepared to USE that membership to get its value. If you purchase a Costco membership and shop there twice during the year, you likely won’t get your money’s worth.
But with all of that said, now that I have seen how competitive Vitacost can be, I’m going to check their website before placing my next Thrive Market order. Since I order Annie’s mac and cheese pretty much every time I order from Thrive Market, I might just place a large order for it with Vitacost and save that bit of money. I’ve also learned to look carefully at spices and extracts, since Vitacost might have the upper hand there, too.
What about you? I’d love to hear where you buy organic groceries online, and if you have an opinion on the Thrive Market Vs. Vitacost issue. If you haven’t tried either, you can go through my link to save 15% on your first Thrive Market order (you can try out their service for 30 days before committing to the membership) or you can save $10 on your first Vitacost order.
You might also enjoy reading my more detailed review of Thrive Market!
I stumbled across your original post (http://stuffparentsneed.com/thrive-market-review-cheap-healthy-food/) today when reviewing sites about TM. While reading through the comments, I saw that you mentioned reviewing Vitacost and was happy to see from the next post that you indeed had. Just wanted to say thanks! I deided not to go with TM for now, because not only would I likely purchase sporadically, but I RARELY follow through on cancelling memberships post-trial. But I’ll check into your other suggestion 🙂