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Peapod Online Shopping and Delivery Service Expands to Madison, WI

CHICAGO, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading Internet grocer Peapod, LLC. today announced the expansion of service toMadison, WI. Deliveries will begin on April 17th.

Residents inMadison,Sun Prairie,Middleton andWaunakee can now visit www.peapod.com to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood, meat and dairy as well as home and office needs, best-selling national brands and private label items.

Shoppers can create personal lists, read nutrition information online, sort products rapidly by price or by nutrition criteria and take advantage of personalized online coupons. Groceries are selected per customer specifications from Peapod, and can be delivered as soon as the next day after the order is placed.

"Peapod is excited to serve Madison," says Peapod President Andrew Parkinson. "As always, we will strive to provide a wide selection of well-priced, top quality, fresh products with the ease of Internet shopping and home delivery."

Peapod serves more than 300,000 customers each year and is owned by Royal Ahold, an international food retail and food service company fromThe Netherlands. The acquisition (which took place in 2001) has allowed Peapod to employ a more integrated bricks-and-clicks business strategy: expanding its partnerships with Ahold U.S.A. stores (Stop & Shop and Giant); leveraging the buying power of Ahold to make higher volume, lower-priced purchases; lowering distribution and transportation costs; and boosting inventory management to reduce out of stocks.

"At Peapod we try to amaze and delight every customer," says Parkinson. "We know that nobody is fresher when it comes to produce and we want to prove it. Peapod is offering a special treat for its first time customers inMadison, a free sampling of our best of the season produce!"

Founded in 1989 as a smart shopping option for busy people, Peapod today stands as the country's leading Internet grocer, serving 22 U.S. markets in communities in the states ofIllinois,Wisconsin,Indiana,Maryland,District of Columbia, Virginia,Massachusetts,Connecticut,Rhode Island,New York andNew Jersey. TheSkokie, Illinois-based company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Ahold inThe Netherlands, has achieved over 13 million deliveries since its late 1980s inception. For more information on Peapod, call 1.800.5.PEAPOD (573.2763); e-mail service@peapod.com or visit www.peapod.com

SOURCE Peapod