Roughly 190,000 women, infants, and children under 5 in Michigan receive WIC benefits every year — and until now, every one of those families had to shop in a physical store to use them. Meijer just changed that.
The privately owned, family-operated Midwest chain announced it is the first retailer in Michigan to accept Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits for online and in-app grocery orders. Shoppers across the state can now redeem WIC on Meijer.com and the Meijer mobile app — a first for the market, where WIC previously worked only in-store.
What's New: WIC Meets Digital Grocery
The move folds one of the country's most-used nutrition assistance programs into the same click-and-collect and delivery workflows that already power modern grocery. To use WIC online, customers add their WIC card to their mPerks account, which then surfaces a personalized shopping experience highlighting benefit-eligible products.
That last detail matters more than it sounds. One of the biggest friction points in WIC redemption has always been figuring out which specific items qualify. Baking eligibility flags directly into the digital cart removes guesswork at the exact moment a shopper is deciding what to buy.
Meijer is also lowering the cost barrier to convenience:
- Free home delivery for customers using WIC benefits on Meijer.com or the Meijer app.
- Free Meijer Pickup on orders of $35 or more.
"As a family company, Meijer understands how important it is to make it easier for all families to buy healthy foods for everyday life," said Don Sanderson, Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer at Meijer. "We're proud to be the first retail chain to offer this service in Michigan, continuing our tradition of improving accessibility for Michigan customers."
Michigan's WIC program frames the partnership as a modernization milestone.
"Michigan WIC is committed to ensuring that all eligible families have convenient and equitable access to the healthy foods they need to thrive," said Christina Herring, Michigan WIC Director. "This collaboration with Meijer marks an important step forward in modernizing the WIC shopping experience by expanding digital access, reducing barriers, and giving families greater flexibility in redeeming their benefits."
Why It Matters
For grocers, foodservice executives, and institutional buyers, this is a preview of where benefit-based retail is heading — and a competitive marker worth watching.
1. Digital benefit acceptance is becoming a differentiator. As SNAP online purchasing has expanded nationally, WIC has lagged because of its item-level eligibility complexity. A retailer that solves the digital WIC experience first captures loyalty from a large, recurring shopper base — nearly 190,000 Michigan participants annually — before competitors catch up.
2. Convenience is now an equity issue, not a luxury. Waiving delivery fees for WIC shoppers signals that operators can't treat online ordering as a premium tier reserved for higher-income customers. For buyers and category managers, that means eligible-product assortment, accurate digital tagging, and reliable fulfillment for benefit customers should be operational priorities, not afterthoughts.
3. The loyalty-plus-benefits integration is the real playbook. By routing WIC through mPerks, Meijer ties public assistance to its own loyalty engine — surfacing eligible items, personalizing the trip, and keeping those households inside its ecosystem. Any grocer building a digital strategy should note how tightly benefit acceptance and loyalty can be stitched together.
The practical takeaway: retailers and suppliers who make benefit redemption seamless online will win share among value-driven and assistance-eligible shoppers — a segment that only grows as food-access pressures intensify across the country.
The Bigger Picture
This launch lands amid mounting attention on food access and affordability across the U.S. grocery and foodservice landscape. Retailers are competing on more than price — they're competing on who can lower barriers, whether through digital tools, benefit acceptance, or fulfillment options that meet families where they are.
Meijer, which operates more than 500 supercenters, grocery stores, neighborhood markets, and express locations across the Midwest, has long leaned on its "all-in-one" positioning. Extending that to WIC-eligible online shoppers is a logical, and pointed, next step.
For more on how the industry is responding to food-access challenges, see our coverage of food insecurity now touching every U.S. county and C&S Wholesale Grocers cutting prices across Midwest hometown stores.
Where to Learn More
Customers can learn more about Michigan's WIC program at Michigan.gov/WIC or by calling 211 to find a nearby WIC clinic. Details on Meijer's WIC offering are available at meijer.com/shopping/services/WIC.
Is your grocery or foodservice operation ready for digital benefit acceptance? Tell us how you're thinking about WIC, SNAP, and food-access equity in the comments — and explore more grocer and food industry news from Food & Beverage Magazine.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
