Walmart Canada has announced that it will expand its grocery pickup service to 12 additional stores in Toronto and its surrounding area. Interested customers will have to pay an additional $3 if they order from Walmart's online store and then pick up their orders from a local Walmart store where the company's crew will load the purchased items.

Items included in this service include meat and fish, household cleaning products, frozen foods, dry goods, personal care and farm produce. Non-grocery items like clothing and over-the-counter items or prescription drugs are not included in the list.

According to Walmart Canada, the grocery pickup service will be immediately available at six Walmart locations in the Greater Toronto area, including Oakville, Brampton and Burlington. Six more local stores will be added on Feb. 18, including Whitby, Scarborough and Richmond Hill.

Walmart Canada also announced that customer can "choose a pickup time and location that is convenient for them."

"They then pull into a dedicated online grocery pickup parking spot, call a dedicated phone line and their order is brought outside and loaded into their vehicle in minutes," the company statement continued.

"Trained, dedicated grocery shoppers have been hired at all participating locations to ensure items are carefully hand-picked and packaged with care," added the statement.

Walmart Canada also said that customers can place their orders at Walmart.ca and that they have assigned six local Walmart stores to receive them. The company also said that customers can advance their orders up to a maximum of 21 days.

This type of service is not really new; however, it is only now that Canadians are catching up. Acceptance of e-commerce in Canada seems to be slower compared to the United States.

With its relatively lower population, it appears to be more difficult for this service to be popular considering its lower population density. Nevertheless, it is here, and more Canadians will now experience more convenient grocery shopping with Walmart Canada.