Welcome back, babe! If you’ve followed me for a little bit or have checked out my Shop Like Star page, you know I’ve raved about Grove Collaborate quite a bit. I decided it was time to officially review it on my blog.
**Please note that this article does include affiliate links and I may earn store rewards or cash back if you make a purchase.**
The details:
If you sign up as a new customer and spend $20 you get a free Mrs. Meyers gift set, which includes a bucket, sponges, dish soap, hand soap, and all purpose cleaner. You’re also enrolled in the VIP membership for a 60 day free trial. The VIP membership gets you free shipping (normally $4.99) and a free gift after you’ve got $49 in your cart.
Important Side note: If you use Rakuten then your first Grove order also earns you up to $2 cash back.
What I did:
I kept the VIP membership for 60 days and then cancelled it. It was easy to do and still allowed me to shop on the site. After you’ve got $49 in your cart then you get free shipping and you’re still eligible for free gifts. The only difference I’ve noticed is that I don’t get as many free gift offers (VIP members get an extra 4+ free gifts/year) and that I have to spend about $50 if I want free shipping. There’s also an order minimum of $30.
The Pros:
- exclusive scents
- free full-size gifts throughout the year
- environmentally friendly
- Commitment to be plastic-free within the next 5 years.
- Very fast shipping
The Cons:
- VIP membership price. Again, it’s pretty reasonable at $20/year when you get 4+ free gifts throughout the year. However, non-VIP members still get free gifts after spending $49.
- Minimum order of $30. This isn’t totally unreasonable and it hopefully helps reduce the carbon footprint of deliveries – but sometimes it would also be nice to order a few things and be able to ship it as a non-VIP member.
- Based on location, not actually less expensive.
Analysis:
Let’s break that last list item down a little more. For starters, I’m located near Cedar Rapids, IA (current population 133k as of 2018) and our tax rate is 6% with a local option of 1% – so really, it’s a 7% tax rate.
I discovered a few price discrepancies while shopping at Target the other night. I really wanted the Mrs. Meyers Snow Drop dish soap, since it was sold out on Grove. The listing price at Grove was 3.99 (seasonal scent. The regular scents are listed at 3.79.) which was actually the exact same price at Target. Another item I noticed less expensive at Target was the Method Granite Countertop cleaner. At Grove the price is listed at $7.39 but at Target the price was listed at $5.99. Shopping at Target meant I had it right away and didn’t have to pay for shipping.
Budget Babes Take Note: I also have a Target Debit Red Card which earns me 5% off on all my purchases. Meaning the dish soap only ended up being 3.79 (a 20 cent savings) and the Granite Cleaner was $5.69 (a savings of $1.70 over Grove). The Target Red Card is free and you can get it either as a credit or debit card.
Now, this may not be the cost at your local Target or where you do your shopping – but as a Babe on a Budget trying to help you maximize your savings, I had to make this part known.
As a total aside, I also have a Thrive Market account (which I will definitely post about later) which is also membership based and carries some of the same products. I noticed two price differences in particular. The first was Seventh Generation’s Chlorine Free pantyliners which was $4.99 on Grove as compared to $3.99 on Thrive Market. The second item was the Grab Green Garbage Disposal Freshener & Cleaner Pods which cost $4.99 on Grove and $3.79 at Thrive (or $3.60 if you add them to your auto-ship.) This isn’t to say you should run out and add another membership – but, it does make for a good reminder to look at the subscriptions we’re paying for to see where we’re getting the best price.
Conclusion:
My findings at Target and Thrive Market are enough for me to pause shopping on Grove Collaborative right now – based on the items that I currently find myself buying. If we’re talking solely from a budget-perspective, if I can get the exact same items for a lower cost elsewhere, then it makes the most sense to shop where the cost is lower.
There are a lot of cool things Grove is doing regarding eliminating plastic that makes it worth a look. If you don’t like going in to Target because you end up walking out with 15 things you didn’t have on your list and don’t want the temptation, Grove may also eliminate that issue. If you’re not a Target Red card holder and don’t get that 5% off on all purchases, Grove would also come in at a slightly less expensive option for you. I also really like that Grove has more scent options available on a regular basis. If you like switching up your scents with the season, it’s convenient to have them here in one place.
Either way, based on the free Mrs. Meyers gift you get as a new customer, I definitely think it’s worth placing at least that initial order! Happy shopping!
xoxo, Star