Internet grocer Peapod, LLC and supermarket chain Stop & Shop have opened a new facility to serve New Jersey's Monmouth and Ocean counties, following healthy sales in other parts of the state.

Peapod's president Andrew Parkinson said the service has seen "exciting growth" in the state, making the expansion of service to additional counties a natural decision. The service first began delivering in New Jersey in 2005.

The expansion will take place in two distinct phases. Phase one will consist of 27 ZIP codes closest to Toms River, including Freehold, Neptune and Jackson. The second phase of service will begin later this fall and extend to Asbury Park and ZIP codes further north.

Shoppers using Peapod by Stop & Shop are able to create personal lists, read nutrition information online, sort products quickly by price or by nutrition criteria, and take advantage of personalized online coupons. Stop & Shop cardholders can jump-start their first online shopping excursion from a list of items they've bought at their local Stop & Shop by entering their card number online. Groceries can be delivered as soon as the next day after the order is placed.

So far Peapod has delivered over 5 million orders to Peapod by Stop & Shop customers, employing cutting-edge order-fulfillment technology and a proprietary transportation-routing system, said Parkinson.

Stop & Shop and Peapod are both owned by Dutch retail conglomerate Royal Ahold, which operates over 800 supermarkets globally. Peapod is active in 22 U.S. markets including the metro areas of Chicago, Boston, Long Island and Washington, D.C., and communities in the states of Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Rhode Island. The service has made over 11 million deliveries since its first delivery in 1990.