Can Thrive Market Actually Save You Money? I Tried It for a Month to Find Out
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Trying to eat healthy on a budget can be a challenge. But Thrive Market, the health-conscious online grocer that you've likely seen all over social media, is positioning itself as an affordable solution.
The membership-based grocery delivery service, which reports that it has over one million members across the country, offers a curated assortment of high-quality goods ranging from food and supplements to pet care and beauty items, all at up to 30% off suggested retail prices.
But you may be wondering if the service is worth it and how exactly it works — not to mention how hard it is to cancel once you've signed up. That's why I, along with fellow Good Housekeeping Institute nutritionist Amy Fisher, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., and three of our consumer testers, decided to test out the service for over a month to give you some honest feedback on Thrive Market.
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What is Thrive Market?
Launched in 2014 with a mission to make healthy and sustainable living easy, accessible and affordable, Thrive Market is a health-conscious online grocer. The virtual store adds new items every week and offers a curated assortment of natural and organic products across a range of categories, including:
Food: Find everything from snacks and condiments to meat, seafood and poultry.
Frozen: Shop your favorite frozen breakfast items, desserts, proteins and more.
Wine: Choose a bottle of your favorite vino or opt for a curated bundle.
Vitamins & Beauty: Select from a plethora of supplements, beauty products, bath and body items, makeup and more.
Baby & Kids: From baby food to diapering essentials, this section has everything for the little ones in your life.
Home & Pet: Household cleaning products and tools are available in this curated section of the site.
To gain access to its inventory of more than 5,500 better-for-you staples at members-only prices of up to 30% off MSRP, members pay an annual fee.
Thrive Market at a Glance
thrivemarket.com
How does Thrive Market work?
To sign up, begin by entering your email and selecting either a monthly or yearly membership. Then, you can search and shop by selecting the criteria that's important to you, including over 90 dietary preferences.
"I love that I can filter for gluten-free for my partner who is celiac," one of our testers said. "The filters make it so easy to find Paleo-compliant options," added another.
Immediately after you sign up, the site guides you to short quiz that asks questions about who you're shopping for, how often you shop for groceries and your typical grocery shopping list staple items, as well as your dietary preferences and values. Then, based on your answers, the site brings you to a "personalized shopping experience" with suggested items to fill up your first virtual cart. I actually found this part of the experience a bit confusing, but it was helpful to get a sense of the types of products Thrive offers. You can easily close this pop-up, though, and skip straight to fully customizing your cart by browsing the entire inventory via Thrive's website or app.
The brand offers over 100 curated shopping lists that can help guide you if you need some direction. "The lists were cool for discovering new products, even one of my favorite influencers had a list on there," one tester said.
Sassos unboxing a Thrive Market order of groceries and home goods in her home.
Once you finalize your order, the brand says your items will typically ship within one business day, which we found held true in our tests (except during bouts of inclement weather). Just keep in mind that frozen orders and wine only ship on certain days of the week. "Everything was really packaged well," one of our testers commented. "Even the glass jars were well wrapped, no breakage."
I found that you can skip or pause auto-ship deliveries fairly easily, and place one-time orders whenever you want to save yourself a trip to the grocery store. "Two years ago, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, and I've been using Thrive ever since," one GH staffer told us. "Before, I would walk to get my groceries and save money, so Thrive has been a life saver."
Generally, our testers were pleased with the quality of the groceries they received. "I liked the Thrive Market brand items, they were good quality and more affordable than some of my usual staples," a tester noted. But you may notice that Thrive does not offer fresh produce when browsing its site. Thrive says that they do offer fresh groceries, but only to a small group of members and they are looking to expand this option to all members. "The Achilles' heel is that they don't have fresh fruits and vegetables," one of our testers said. "They have literally everything else I needed, but I had to place a produce order from another online grocer."
How much does Thrive Market cost?
Thrive Market offers two membership options:
Monthly plan: $12/month
Yearly plan: $60/year
You'll notice that paying annually gets you get significant savings, coming out to roughly $5/month. The yearly membership also includes additional perks, such as a free gift (up to a $60 value) and a risk-free cancellation policy that allows you to cancel within 30 days for a full refund.
If you're worried about paying that membership fee, Thrive's Savings Guarantee policy may sway you — if you don't make your annual membership fee back in savings by the end of the membership year, you'll automatically get the difference in Thrive Market credit after you renew (i.e. if you paid a $60 membership but only save $40, Thrive will credit you back $20 to your account). But we found that if you use it at least once a month, the membership should pay for itself.
In terms of grocery and product pricing, you'll see items significantly discounted from what you'd find in a traditional grocery store. "It's like Costco meets Whole Foods," one tester said. "I've never seen such low prices on some of my favorite brands like Primal Kitchen and Siete, and it saves me a trip to the store."
Testers also appreciated that all shipping materials are recyclable, even down to the tape — just keep in mind that shipping isn't free on all orders. Below is Thrive Market's shipping fee breakdown:
Grocery: Free shipping on orders over $49, or $5.95 shipping under that
Frozen: Free shipping on orders over $120, or $19.95 shipping under that (a $65 order minimum is required to check out with frozen foods)
Wine: Free shipping on orders over $79, or $13.95 shipping under that
Can Thrive Market save you money?
Short answer: it depends. If you're frequently buying expensive health-conscious items during your weekly or biweekly trips to the grocery store, then the membership fee may be worth gaining access to the discounted items that Thrive offers.
Thrive claims that you can save up to $1,536 a year based on once a week shopping, and that the average member saves $32 an order. I also appreciate that if you find a product cheaper elsewhere, Thrive will match the price. The brand has a great deals page, as well as an option on some items to save more if you buy a few units.
Auto-ship also unlocks additional savings up to 10% — and if you refer a friend you'll get a $40 credit (and they get 40% off on their first order).
Who is Thrive Market best for?
If you're someone who purchases a lot of specialty health foods and goods, Thrive Market is likely a perfect fit for you. People who are short on time and prefer to avoid in-person grocery shopping will also appreciate the service. And if you want to purchase organic goods but don't live close to a Whole Foods or other speciality markets and health food stores, Thrive Market can be a great choice, since it ships directly to your door. The biggest caveat is that the service doesn't offer fresh produce to everyone right now, but if you frequent your local farmer's market or are picky about choosing your produce in-person anyway, this may not be a dealbreaker for you.
How do Thrive Market returns work?
The brand is committed to sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint, so it doesn't accept physical returns of items or orders once they have shipped. If there is an issue with your item and you notify a Thrive Market agent within 21 days of receiving your order, they'll make it right, typically through some sort of credit or replacement.
Is it hard to cancel Thrive Market?
Yes, our testers found it to be very difficult to cancel. There is no simple "cancel" button on the like other services typically offer – you'll need to chat with a live agent to fully cancel your membership. It took me quite a bit of back and forth with an agent to finally cancel my membership — they kept coming back to me with discounted membership pricing and other special offers.
Ultimately, Thrive did finally cancel the membership, but it was a lengthy conversation. The good news is that the membership perks still continued until the end of my already-paid membership period.
Is Thrive Market a legit website?
Yes, Thrive Market is a legitimate website and online grocer with high-quality goods. It's also the largest online grocer to become a Certified B Corporation, which indicates a company that meets high standards for social and environmental performance. Thrive is an accredited business through the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating, too.
Does Amazon own Thrive Market?
No, Amazon does not own Thrive Market. Amazon does own Whole Foods, a competitor to Thrive Market, and offers online grocery shopping through Whole Foods and Amazon Prime.
Where does Thrive Market ship?
Currently, Thrive Market ships to all residential and commercial addresses in the contiguous United States. They do not ship to P.O. boxes, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or Canada at this time.
The bottom line: Is Thrive Market worth it?
Given that using the service at least once a month will likely pay back the annual membership fee, I think that Thrive Market is definitely worth giving a try. If you frequently purchase specialty health-conscious items or have specific dietary preferences, the service can be especially useful. As our lives get busier and busier, the option to have high-quality groceries delivered to your door can be a time-saver and game-changer. Although you'll have to purchase produce separately, there is a large selection of items on the Thrive Market website which will likely take care of the bulk of your weekly grocery list.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
As director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, Stefani Sassos, M.S., R.D.N., C.S.O., C.D.N., handles all nutrition content, product testing and evaluation. She stays up to date on the latest research to provide evidence-based reporting on all things diet and nutrition, and she also runs large-scale tests and analysis for products ranging from protein bars and supplements to meal delivery services. As a busy working mother, Stefani relies on online grocery services regularly to feed her family and is well versed in the current services and apps available. She personally tested Thrive for over a month with her family.
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