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Instacart
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Headquarters
50 BEALE STREET, SUITE 600, SAN FRANCISCO, 94105, CA, US -
Annual Global Sales
$2,100,000,000
Total Sales
$2.5 billion revenue in 2022
Total Stores
0
Key Facts
- Filed for proposed IPO in August 2023
- An estimated 9.6 million active users and more than 600,000 employee shoppers
- Partnerships with more than 800 retail banners in the U.S. and Canada
- Valued at about $24 billion in 2022, down from $39 billion the previous year
- Nearly one out of every five orders comes from the website or app of a retail partners, powered by Instacart tech
Key Executives
- CEO: Fidji Simo
- COO: Asha Sharma
- CFO: Emily Reuter
- Chief Business Officer: Chris Rogers
- VP, brand and marketing: Laura Jones
Resources
Market Position and Strategy Overview
![Instacart](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2022-08/instacart_green.png)
Market Position and Strategy Overview
Instacart is the leading retail enablement platform that works with and brings together local grocers and retailers to deliver products to shoppers. Though initially focused on the grocery market, Instacart has steadily expanded into an array of channels, including convenience stores, drugstores, dollar stores, office supply stores, home goods stores, home improvement stores, stadium concessions and workspaces.
For Instacart, the last few years have been a roller-coaster. Faced with a challenging business model heading into 2020, the company got a major boost during the Covid-19 pandemic as many consumers cut trips to the supermarket and turned to online grocery orders, and recorded its first monthly profit in April 2020. Instacart has been under pressure to show it can sustain its business momentum as the pandemic wanes and the labor market tightens. Its retailer partners have increasingly taken back some control over their fulfillment operations, though most — excluding a recent complete exit by regional grocer Heinen’s — still rely on Instacart at least in part.
In August 2023, following a strong first half of the year (with revenue increasing 51% to $1.5 billion for that period), Maplebear Inc., which does business as Instacart, filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. PepsiCo is an investor, backing the venture with a purchase of $175 million in preferred convertible stock. The IPO filing follows several expansions of services and continued streamlining of the shopping experience. (See below.)
The company also recently paid out millions in two labor-related disputes as gig worker relationships come under increasing scrutiny. Still, Instacart continues pursuing the technologies that can power every single grocery transaction to help its retail partners effectively compete.
Acknowledging the company’s 10th anniversary in 2022, Instacart’s Chief Executive Officer Fidji Simo said, “As much as the grocery industry has changed over the last decade, we believe the next decade will be even bigger — with changes driven mostly by technology.”
Instacart, which began as an online grocery shopping app, has grown into a tech powerhouse, aiding retailers in building custom digital storefronts on the retailers’ own websites and apps, powered by Instacart technology. In some cases, Instacart has built virtual convenience stores for retailers to deliver nationwide in 30 minutes. (In January 2024, a handful of New York City Fairway Market locations added dedicated aisles for Instacart shoppers, so customers could enjoy quick delivery of commonly ordered items.) It also has diversified beyond e-commerce services to technology solutions such as smart carts, electronic shelf labels, a scan-and-go service and customer analytics. (See E-Commerce.)
Additionally, as customer expectations changed, Instacart has moved from a focus exclusively on the weekly shop to serving more use cases like monthly bulk stock-ups, convenience trips and alcohol sales. For its next move, Instacart launched a version of its site tailored to small businesses.
Dubbed Instacart Business, it sells curated office supplies including cleaning products. It also lets members shop partners such as Costco Business Center and BJ's Wholesale Club, share stock lists, set up re-ordering and auto-order capabilities, and choose from multiple delivery options. In the future, nonprofits, healthcare and political organizations will be able to save on tax-exempt items and manage multi-seat accounts.
In December 2023, Instacart Business became the primary grocery and snack provider for all Sharebite corporate clients in the U.S. Sharebite is an employee meal benefits platform. Now, workplace administrators can use Instacart Business to order groceries and snacks for their employees. Companies also can give their employees a meal allowance in the form of a virtual Visa card to be spent at restaurants and food delivery services that accept online orders or contactless payment.
In 2023, to drum up new memberships, Instacart offered a free year of Instacart+ for companies that created an Instacart Business profile.
However, Instacart is attracting more customers even as people spend less, according to Insider Intelligence’s U.S. digital grocery forecast. The company had 5% more customers in the first quarter of 2022 than it did during the same period in 2021 and 65% more than in the first quarter of 2020, the data indicates, suggesting that its overall popularity with shoppers remains strong.
With consumers tightening their belts, Instacart in 2023 introduced features to help users save money, including:
- A section featuring "Stores to Help You Save"
- The ability to link loyalty cards to one's Instacart account
- AI-generated personalized deals and with (literally) highlighted savings
- Stock Up and Save promotions
- Savings apply automatically upon adding SKUs to cart
- Free delivery and a discount on qualifying orders for Instacart+ members who schedule delivery in advance
Instacart also is the dominant digital grocery player commanding 73.8% of third-party intermediary grocery sales and generated $26.07 billion in sales through 2021, the research firm found. Still, with today’s market turbulence, Instacart cut its valuation to about $24 billion in 2022, down from $39 billion the previous year. Despite these steps, four of the nation’s 10 most populous metropolitan areas — Houston, New York, Philadelphia and Dallas — delivered year-over-year sales growth of at least 5% during the company’s first quarter of 2022, Insider Intelligence reports. Conversely, sales fell in the remaining six most populous regions, with revenue in Los Angeles falling the most at 24%.
Instacart accomplishments come without operating with warehouses, stores, freezers or delivery trucks, essentially without physical assets. Instacart in 2022 then created Carrot Warehouses to help retailers create more flexible, local fulfillment models to unlock improved capabilities, such as 15-minute ultra-fast delivery. As a full stack solution within the new Instacart Platform, Instacart works with retailers to enable end-to-end fast delivery solutions customized to their needs, including building new nano-fulfillment centers (NFCs), devising floor plans, establishing automation services, and running ongoing operations.
Must-Know Terms
Must-Know Terms
- Storefronts: custom digital storefronts uniquely tailored to a retailer or product.
- Instacart Platform: a suite of services for retailers designed to enable ultrafast delivery, support retail media initiatives and help retailers deploy in-store technologies, such as smart carts for faster checkout.
- Shoppers: Instacart employee shoppers who pick up items from stores and deliver them to those that ordered.
- Carrot Ads: unites Instacart advertising, including its technology, products, engineering and sales talent and data insights to retailers' owned and operated e-commerce sites.
- Carrot Warehouses: “nano-fulfillment” centers that allow retailers to deliver in as little as 15 minutes.
- Carrot Insights: offers retailers near real-time visibility into their operations to make informed, proactive decisions.
- Instacart+: gives households free delivery on orders (including from some restaurants, through a partnership with Uber Technologies) over $35, 5% back on eligible Pickup orders, reduced service fees, perks from select brands, and a shareable subscription. The cost is $9.99 per month or $99 a year.
Thought Starters
- Using Instacart’s Carrot Warehouses ensures high in-stock rates for products.
- Consider highlighting products through ads on Instacart’s Storefronts to target consumers at specific retailers.
- Develop the right promotional plan: Understand the roles of Instacart Media Group versus brand/category objectives.
Promotional Strategy
Promotional Strategy
Instacart’s main promotional activity consists of seasonal and limited-time campaigns for brands and products. These campaigns also can serve as the launching pad for new products and services. For example, in 2023, it offered a limited-time promotion for companies that signed up for Instacart Business. New accounts receive a complimentary yearlong Instacart+ membership, plus 2% credit back on qualifying orders. (See Market Position and Strategy Overview.)
Special Departments/Services
Special Departments/Services
Instacart also has expanded its expertise from e-commerce to physical stores. In 2021 it acquired Caper – a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-powered shopping cart and checkout technology platform. The acquisition has led to several service offerings:
![Caper Counter](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/s3/2022-08/caper-counter-at-fenway-1050x525.png)
Caper Counter
Designed for retailers that have a smaller physical footprint and stock-keeping unit (SKU) count, Caper Counter enables purchasing a handful of items at a time at locations ranging from stadiums to convenience stores.
In 2022, Instacart debuted Caper Counter, an AI-powered, point-of-sale system, at Boston’s Fenway Park in partnership with Aramark Sports + Entertainment. Caper Counter checkout systems provide quick, contact-free transactions of food and beverage selection – such as peanuts, soda, beer and candy – for ballpark goers through visual recognition and AI-technology, helping to reduce transaction times.
Caper Carts
To power in-store technologies for larger retailers, Instacart offers Caper Carts, smart carts that auto-detect items instantly with AI-powered cameras.
The Kroger Co. is piloting “KroGo” by Kroger, a shopping cart powered with Caper technology. Wakefern also is adding updated Caper Carts — which hold 65% more than the previous model, but in a streamlined format —to some New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia area ShopRite locations. Schnucks customers were able to use the carts at select St. Louis stores beginning in the fall of 2023. The pilot will include two new cart models, including one with a bottom rack for bulky and heavy items, and a Lite version that lets customers manually scan items as they place them in the cart.
Instacart continues to update the technology as well, including improving the carts' camera and weight sensors, adding new ordering capabilities and rewards options, and offering new storage and charging docks for retailers.
In January 2024, Instacart grew its advertising options by piloting ads on Caper Carts at Good Food Holdings' Bristol Farms stores in Southern California. The platform plans to add thousands more Caper Carts, including at Associated Wholesale Grocers, and deploy them at other retail partners by year's end, including nearly 200 Save Mart Companies' stores.
EBT SNAP
Instacart pioneered the retailer onboarding process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Nutrition Service of accepting Electronic Benefits Transfer and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (EBT SNAP) payments, and remains the only platform that accelerates retailers’ abilities to certify for EBT SNAP online acceptance.
Instacart currently reaches nearly 96% of U.S. households that are enrolled in SNAP. More than 170 retail banners across more than 14,000 stores and many other federally approved retailers accept EBT SNAP online through the Instacart platform, serving more than 25 million people experiencing food insecurity across the U.S. in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Instacart also offers a discounted Instacart+ membership for SNAP participants.
Instacart Health
Instacart Health technology is available to partnering medical providers, who can use the tools to help patients access nutritious foods and other essential items to support their health through allocated funds and curated shopping lists.
Collaborative Alliances
Collaborative Alliances
Anheuser-Busch InBev often trials new solutions with Instacart.
Instacart's first major CPG cross-channel co-marketing campaign was with AB InBev’s Michelob Ultra and ran during the 2023 National Football League playoffs. Shoppable TV ads allowed viewers to scan a QR code to be directed to the brand’s page on Instacart, which also suggested snack pairings from Frito-Lay in partnership with PepsiCo. The partnership additionally included shoppable media on Instacart’s mobile application, push notifications and social content.
Before that, the brewer piloted an Instacart email ads product with its Stella Artois brands and was among the first to use Instacart’s programmatic ad solutions for alcohol brands. (See Retail Media.)
In late 2023, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Instacart unveiled a new partnership: All Instacart+ members within the U.S. can access Peacock Premium for free. Ad spots featuring Peacock film and television properties such as “The Office” and “Parks & Recreation” highlighted the collaboration.
In 2024, NBCUniversal and Instacart's partnership is expanding through a first-party data collaboration on a new retail media workstream that allows advertisers to reach in-market consumeres through the network's streaming content and measure their campaigns' impact through leveraging ad exposure and purchase data.
Tied to the October 2023 release of Apple TV+'s adaptation of Bonnie Garmus's novel "Lessons in Chemistry," Instacart unveiled a dedicated brand web page with shoppable recipes from the TV series. Instacart's app also has dedicated space to the recipes as well as a feature that lets retailers, creators and others create collections of curated content that is also shoppable. Social media activity and influencers supported the launch.
Considering how many pet parents enjoy snapping photos of their furry family members, for the 2023 holidays Instacart teamed with longtime partner Purina for a Pawliday Contest inviting people to submit festive holiday photos of their pets at www.pawlidaycontest.com. The "Best in Show" wins $500 in Purina and Instacart prizes; runners-up receive more than $150 in prizes.
Powering E-Commerce, Retail Media
Instacart is powering Sprouts Farmers Market's new retailer media network, where brands can bring their Instacart Ads campaigns to the specialty grocer's website and app.
Instacart is also growing its partnership with Northeast Grocery Inc., using its platform to add e-commerce capabilities and launch a retail media network for its Price Chopper/Market 32 and Tops Friendly Markets banners.
Roku
Instacart has teamed with Roku to bring together viewership data from the TV streaming platform and insights from Instacart so marketers can measure whether streamers are buying products on Instacart after seeing an ad on Roku. By matching this data with Roku’s first-party data, marketers can gauge the effect of TV streaming advertising on product sales. An initial pilot found that consumers who viewed the ad on Roku ended up buying more of the advertised products on Instacart.
Customer Segments
Customer Segments
The typical Instacart customers are:
- 80% female
- 50% are between the ages of 25-44, while 30% are aged 55-75
- 60% live one mile or less from a grocery store
- 40% are parents, while 15% are retired
Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing Strategy
The top of Instacart’s homepage invites customers to log in and then offers a selection of:
- pickup,
- grocery,
- convenience,
- ready meals,
- gifts,
- alcohol,
- in-store prices,
- SNAP EBT,
- dollar store,
- Asian,
- pets,
- stock-up,
- retail pharmacy,
- new and
- beauty.
Customers are also offered options for:
- “Fastest near you” with a list of retailers with 30-minute delivery nearby,
- “Pet products near you,”
- “Beauty products near you,” and
- “New store near you” showcasing retailers under each of those headers along with their projected delivery time.
The homepage also invites customers to: “Start a new order,” with a list of retailers available and their projected delivery times. Scrolling down the homepage, Instacart displays:
- “Big-selection grocers,”
- “New on Instacart”,
- “Bulk stores,”
- “Retail stores,”
- “Neighborhood favorites,”
- “Convenience stores,”
- “Wine, beer and spirits,”
- “Natural and organic store,”
- “Pickup options” “Drugstores,”
- “Pet supplies” and
- “More stores,” in the customer’s zip code.
Retail Media
Retail Media
Instacart Ads
Instacart Ads offers a full suite of advertising products. The company’s sponsored product offering, coupled with brand pages and a suite of display products, equips brands on the Instacart Marketplace with comprehensive full-funnel marketing capabilities with unique consumer insights, scale, and reach.
In January 2024, Instacart announced that Google Shopping Ads are accessible to its advertising partners. Powered by Instacart's first-party retail media data and closed-loop insights, CPG partners such as Danone's Oikos and several Kraft Heinz brands can more readily reach high-intent consumers searching on Google.
In June 2024, building on the Google Shopping Ads collaboration, Instacart revealed it's making YouTube Ads shoppable. CPG brands can use Instacart's retail media technology and fulfillment network to make video campaigns shoppable, leveraging Instacart's first-party data to pinpoint and reach high-intent consumers, with brands and partners receiving closed-loop measurements. Clorox and Publicis Media are among the first to partner with Instacart to pilot the capability.
Instacart offers self-service and managed ad services for more than 5,000 CPG brands through its Instacart Promotions suite of services. Its self-service portal Ads Manager includes daily budgeting capabilities, new product content control and on-demand business data.
The delivery company is partnering with independent ad technology company PubMatic to leverage Instacart's first-party retail media data in a programmatic advertising solution through PubMatic's unified self-service platform, Convert.
Instacart recently introduced Brand Explorer, a set of discovery tools that use data to help brands better present their products to retailers. Instacart’s retail partners can in turn search and discover brands’ and products’ sell sheets on the Instacart Platform Portal.
Instacart also partners with industry-leading API partners that have built campaign management and optimization applications leveraging the Instacart Ads API.
Instacart has teamed with commerce acceleration platform Pacvue since 2020 on API technology, events and product training. In 2023, the two platforms broadened their partnership to make Instacart Ads more targeted and shoppable.
CPG brands and media agencies with a presence in Canada also can tap into Instacart Ads capabilities to engage with Canadian consumers as they search and discover products. Instacart’s entrance into Canada in 2022 marks the first global expansion for Instacart’s advertising business.
Ads Academy
In 2023, Instacart launched Ads Academy, a self-serve and self-paced online course designed to help both new and current Instacart Ads users maximize the grocery tech provider's marketplace and better engage and inspire consumers More than 20 Instacart agency partners helped shape the program. The course covers:
- New ad formats
- Ads Manager
- Automation tools
- Measurement features
Marketing Solutions
These new tools let retailers develop strategic digital campaigns — like custom promotions for an occasion like Mother's Day — and allow customers to sign up for a retailer's loyalty program through the Instacart app. The latter allows consumers to save money via the app, further driving loyalty.
Marketing Solutions also offers grocers three tiers of service, including:
- Self-serve: A DIY option that allows retailers to create and launch their own marketing campaigns through the Instacart app or their Storefront Pro-powered website.
- Campaign management: Where a dedicated Instacart marketing team helps retailers create and run targeted campaigns across multiple channels.
- Strategic partnership: A white-glove, customizable tier with options like video shoots and influencer-driven campaigns.
Instacart Developer Platform
This publicly available application programming interface (API) powers third-party digital experiences across several spaces, enabling them to integrate Instacart's functionality within their websites and apps.
Optimize for Impulse Purchases
Instacart allows sellers to advertise items to spur impulse buys by getting single-unit SKUs in front of customers through its Optimize for impulse purchases toggle in Ads Manager. Items must be $7 or less, and upon winning placement the products are advertised to consumers during checkout or at other impulse-driven shopping times.
Weighted Purchases
Instacart introduced a new advertising capability in 2023 which enables produce brands, farms, and agriculture boards to advertise fresh, weighted items (including fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, nuts and deli items) via the Instacart Marketplace. The offering was timed with the White House's Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health and its goal to help end hunger and lower the incidence of diet-related diseases.
Shoppable Video and Display Ads
In 2022, Instacart began offering two new advertising solutions that bring together inspirational storytelling and action: shoppable video ads and enhanced shoppable display ads.
Dove, Mondelēz International, PepsiCo and S.Pellegrino were among the first CPG brands to pilot the new solutions. More than 40 CPG brands have piloted the shoppable display product, which is generally available to all brand partners in Ads Manager.
Instacart Ads Initiative
Designed to support historically underrepresented, emerging brands directly within the Instacart Marketplace, the initiative leverages the company’s advertising products.
- Black-Owned Brands: For its 2021 launch, the initiative involved a commitment of up to $1 million to support digital advertising for Black-owned CPG brands on Instacart. The program continued into 2022.
- Women-Owned Brands: The initiative expanded to also commit up to $1 million to amplify women-owned CPG brands within the Instacart Marketplace. Eligible brands received free Instacart Ads credits to use with the company’s flagship sponsored product offering throughout 2022.
The Trade Desk Partnership
Instacart has partnered with The Trade Desk to help its CPG advertisers enhance their programmatic campaigns through retail media offered by the global advertising technology company. Instacart's data on consumer behaviors and product purchases allow CPG advertisers' media buys to become more targeted, reaching specific audiences such as those who made purchases in an advertiser's category but not their brand, lapsed brand buyers, new-to-brand customers, and existing brand customers.
Pilot partners include Beam Suntory and groupM.
ROFDA Partnership
In 2024, Instacart partnered with members of Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA), a coalition of wholesale food distributors cooperatively owned by independent retailer grocers. ROFDA's network represents more than 2,250 stores, and will leverage Instacart's Carrot Ads technology to power their retail media networks.
Trends Report
For the past five years, brand marketers have been asked to rate various retail media platforms for the Path to Purchase Institute’s annual Trends Report. For 2024's survey, 72% of survey takers gave Instacart Ads a "good" score or better for targeting effectiveness. Nearly half of respondents gave the platform a “fair/poor” score on traffic-driving capabilities. (See chart below.)
![Instacart 2024](https://assets1.p2pi.com/s3fs-public/styles/hero/public/2024-01/instacart.png)
Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing Strategy
The Instacart app has been downloaded more than 10 million times. The app doesn’t offer many of the other bells and whistles of other apps, and features a black backdrop to showcase the retailers’ icons from which the customers can order.
After opening the app on initial launch, customers are asked to enter their zip code and receive a list of available grocers in their area. New customers are given “Try Free for 2 weeks!” trial offer.
Instacart’s app is the simplified version of its website homepage offering at the very top of the home screen the same selection of: pickup, grocery, convenience, ready meals, gifts, alcohol, in-store prices, SNAP EBT, dollar store, Asian, pets, stock-up, retail pharmacy, and beauty. Below the hubs selection, Instartcart posts carousel ads for their own and partner promotions, such as Chase, daily Instacart deals and Delta Skymiles. Below the promotions, Instacart offers customers the opportunity to “start a new order” with a list of retailers in the customer’s zip code followed by “more stores in” the customer’s city followed with an extensive list of retailers.
In 2024, Instacart partnered with Uber Technologies to bring Uber Eats restaurant delivery to Instacart's customers. A new tab features restaurants that allows users to select from an assortment of area eateries, browse menus, place orders and track deliveries. Instacart+ members pay $0 delivery on orders over $35.
Shopper app
In 2022, Instacart launched suites of product features related to improving the Instacart employee shopper experience:
- Live phone support: Enables shoppers to call and speak with a care representative directly through the Instacart app, which Instacart says had been one of the most requested features from shopper.
- Safety toolkit: Allows shoppers to:
- receive safety alerts of incidents nearby;
- report a non-emergency safety issue, such as a rude customer; and
- contact emergency service in the app if in need of medical, fire or police assistance.
- In-app navigation: Provides shoppers with an interactive map of the grocery store including accurate item locations to help them navigate the store. This feature is currently being piloted in more than 80 grocery store locations across North America, with more being added over time.
Ask Instacart
Instacart partnered with Open AI, the creator of AI chatbot ChatGPT, to develop and launch a new feature, dubbed Ask Instacart.
The plugin is designed to respond to users' food-related questions, including recipe ideas or healthy meal options, and generate suggestions via a dialogue (and data from more than 1 billion shoppable items from Instacart's 80,000 retail partners) rather than a list of search results.
Social Media
Social Media
TikTok
In 2022, Instacart developed Shoppable Recipes, a product integration that allows food creators to make their recipes shoppable on Instacart via strategic integrations on TikTok and Tasty as well as on Hearst Magazines’ properties, such as Delish and Good Housekeeping. Shoppable Recipes leverages Instacart’s immense grocery catalog with real-time AI-driven modeling to find in-stock items and available Instacart Shoppers to get them delivered quickly, empowering people to turn the food from their favorite culinary creators and brands into something tangible and delicious. An embedded “See Recipe” button featured on recipe videos on TikTok and via a “Shop with Instacart” button on recipes on Hearst Magazines’ food culture properties adds all of the ingredients to customers' Instacart cart in just a few taps. Select food creators on TikTok can start using Instacart’s Shoppable Recipe functionality in their videos and earn payouts based on engagements and Instacart orders placed. Creators will be able to choose from recipes available on Tasty.co and other selected sites. Tasty will also be among the first creators with access to the functionality.
On TikTok, the integration is powered by TikTok’s Jump program, and makes Instacart the first grocery delivery platform to integrate with the program.
E-Commerce
E-Commerce
Instacart enables every delivery window from 15 minutes to 30 minutes to two-hour to next-day or scheduled, both via its own app, and the websites and properties of its grocers as well.
Instacart customers generally have a dedicated Instacart shopper, who communicates via text, to let them know when something isn’t available or if certain groceries have been swapped. Instacart makes regular updates to its platform, including adding:
- The ability to let customers learn more about their shoppers, such as how many orders they've delivered on time and how many five-star ratings they have.
- In-app messages that offer more up-to-the-moment details about their order's progress.
- Faster shopper login via passkeys.
- Improved address data for easier deliveries.
- The ability for a shopper to chat with customers for up to 20 minutes following an order to ensure successful completion.
Instacart also is piloting a "favorite shopper" feature in various regions throughout the U.S. Customers will be able designate specific shoppers as favorites, and then choose them to fulfill future orders.
Instacart doesn’t require a membership to shop, and the service is available in most zip codes throughout the United States and to more than 90% of Canadian households.
Instacart partners with more than 1,400 national, regional and local retail banners to enable online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in the U.S. and Canada. More than 600,000 Instacart shoppers pick, pack and deliver orders from these retailers for Instacart customers on their own flexible schedules. Instacart says it has helped U.S. grocers create more than 231,000 grocery jobs since 2012, including more than 66,000 jobs at small grocers. It says since launching it's helped brick-and-mortar grocers in the U.S. to increase their revenue by $7.96 billion (according to its 2023 Economic Impact report, which can be accessed in the Overview).
With some grocers shifting to fulfilling their own shopping orders, Instacart in 2023 said it would begin "winding down" its Instacart Pickup, or in-store shopping operations for curbside pickup orders, at select retailer locations. The retailer has not disclosed how many of its shoppers or how many locations would be affected.
Instacart continues to develop its relationship with Aldi, however. After partnering with Aldi in 2017, Instacart has since worked with the discount retailer to provide alcohol delivery, accept EBT SNAP online payments, and launch Aldi Express, where customers can have selected items delivered within 30 minutes.
For 2023 it partnered with Publix to deliver "Holiday Entertaining" meal bundles for the grocer.
Instacart keeps growing its same-day delivery options, including via a partnership with Industrious, which provides workspaces for companies. Instacart is serving as the same-day supplier of snacks, beverages and office supplies for all U.S. Industrious coworking spaces.
Big & Bulky
Powered by Carrot Delivery, Instacart shoppers with large vehicles can opt-in to shop large-item purchases like portable grills or office furniture.
Connected Stores
In 2022, Instacart launched a “Connected Stores” technology package, which debuted at a New York City grocer in early 2023. The launch includes new and existing technologies that connect retailers to e-commerce options like Storefront Pro, which offers smart prompts, shows real-time store activity and shopper communication, and parses millions of searches to help machine-learning models better predict customer behavior.
Connected Stores includes six modular services that retailers can incorporate separately or bundle together. They're designed to create a seamless shopping experience and enable retailers to access data like stock levels, consumer scan times, store journey, and loyalty status. A digital kiosk lets customers confirm their orders and can flag shoppers for an audit, if the order looks suspicious.
Instacart continues to enhance its Storefront and Storefront Pro offerings, including self-service tools that allow retailers to modify their homepage; customize landing pages with images, text and clickable components; and build shoppable campaigns for holidays or special occasions. It also continues to get new retailers to adopt the technology, including SaveMart, FoodMaxx and Lucky banners.
The tools are synced with Instacart’s app and website as well as through the tech Instacart installs for retailers.
Instacart also continues to expand its Instacart Platform technology to help its retail partners provide a more seamless customer experience, powered by its proprietary AI models.
Instacart also is introducing an "In-Store"mode among select retailers and on its app. In-Store allows retailers' apps to inform shoppers of what's in stock, view details about items on their list (such as nutritional information), get product recommendations, sort items by aisle and access in-store promotions and discounts. It also provides retailers with a better understanding of their customers' shopping habits.
Instacart's FoodStorm order management system is designed to streamline the fulfillment process. Instacart also continues to introduce new features and add new retailers, including several independent and local stores. Just ahead of the 2023 holiday season and its accompanying spike in order volumes, Instacart overhauled the user interface to make it more user-friendly. Now retailers can:
- View and manage order and payment statuses,
- Accurately handle items sold by weight, and
- Access customer order information by scanning a barcode that displays the corresponding order on a mobile device.
One other new feature is that customers can settle their bills upon pickup.
PetSmart
In early 2023, Instacart teamed with PetSmart, first to offer delivery from more than 150 stores across Canada, including large items through Instacart's Big & Bulky fulfillment option. That May, the companies expanded their partnership to offer same-day delivery from nearly 1,500 PetSmart stores throughout the U.S.
Sally Beauty
Instacart has a partnership with Sally Beauty to deliver hair color and care products from more than 2,200 of the retailer's locations, including one-hour delivery in some areas.
The Home Depot
Instacart has a partnership with The Home Depot to offer same-day delivery, sometimes within an hour, from nearly 2,000 locations. The service includes Instacart's Big & Bulky fulfillment solution.
Lowe's
Instacart offers same-day delivery for Lowe's purchases, including Instacart's Big & Bulky option.
JD Sports and Finish Line
In late 2023, Instacart partnered with sports-fashion retailer JD Sports and Finish Line, giving customers access to same-day delivery for more than 16,000 products, including athletic footwear and apparel brands such as Nike, Puma and more, sometimes within an hour. Customers can shop the JD Sports storefront both on the Instacart app as well as online.
Whole Foods Canada
In 2024, Whole Foods customers throughout Canada's 14 locations could order groceries via Instacart, with some orders being delivered in as little as 30 minutes.
Advertising Strategy
Advertising Strategy
Instacart's first brand campaign, released in 2021, was dubbed “How Homemade is Made" and included a 60-second spot with all the dishes shown available through QR codes that connected customers to a shoppable recipe on the retailer’s app.
In 2023, to launch the Instacart credit card, the retailer released a limited edition fragrance, Cashe, The Smell of Cash Back. As part of the promotion, the perfume was made available for free to the first 1,000 people who claimed a bottle. Cardholders get from 1 to 5% cash back on qualifying purchases.
In time for 2023 back-to-school season, Instacart launched a six-week omnichannel "You've Got This, Parents" campaign, which touts the platform as a one-stop spot for easy shopping in both the U.S. and Canada. The campaign includes CPG brands such as Babybel, Chobani, Lunchables, Skippy and Yoplait. Instacart is also highlighting its AI-powered "Ask Instacart" (See Mobile Marketing) search tool, offering a limited-time discounted Instacart+ subscription, and enabling tax-free shopping in eligible areas.
Instacart also has collaborated with various celebrities on campaigns, including:
- Singer and flutist Lizzo for its "The World is Your Cart" campaign, touting new digital features and the star's exclusive shoppable cart.
- Actress and vegan beauty brand founder Ashley Tisdale and Sweet Earth Foods, to kick off a Veggie Come Back campaign that celebrates plant-based foods. Customers could use the Instacart app to shop Tisdale's cart.
Solution Providers
Solution Providers
- Media and Measurement Solutions: Advantage Unified Commerce
Cause/Community Programs
Cause/Community Programs
Instacart supports several initiatives as part of its commitment to nutritious food's contribution to overall health.
Instacart regularly takes part in Giving Tuesday:
- For 2023, it teamed with Keurig Dr Pepper (Core Hydration and Mott's), Dole Packaged Foods and OLIPOP to benefit Partnership for a Healthier America. Throughout the week, every customer dollar spent on select qualifying products via Instacart resulted in the platform and the brands donating one serving of fruits and vegetables (up to 1 million servings) to PHA.
- For 2022, the platform launched Community Carts, a feature that allows people to select a participating food bank that is a Feeding America member, and shop its personalized wish list. Purchases were delivered to the nonprofit by Instacart shoppers. That year, more than 37,000 items were donated to member food banks. The platform brought the initiative back in 2023, and also held food giveaway events before and after the holidays.
- For 2021, each order U.S. and Canadian customers made during that week resulted in one meal donated on their behalf to benefit nonprofits such as Feeding America and Second Harvest Canada. Nearly 7 million meals were donated.
In early 2023, when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were rolled back to pre-pandemic levels in more than 30 states, Instacart expanded its Community Carts campaign by offering discounted Instacart+ membership for SNAP recipients.
The platform also introduced Instacart Health in 2022, an initiative that focuses on making nutritious foods more accessible for overall better health. The effort includes:
- Fresh Funds, a program piloted with Partnership for a Healthier America, which provides families with a stipend to be used toward nutritious food purchases and other essentials, including families in American Cancer Society Hope Lodge communities,
- Shoppable recipes and lists, with tags that designate if foods meet certain criteria like being gluten-free, low-fat or low-sugar, and
- Care Carts, which allows healthcare providers and caregivers to order groceries on someone else’s behalf.
Providers can also customize Virtual Storefronts to help their patients make healthier shopping choices, as part of a food as medicine initiative.
![Instacart logo](https://assets1.p2pi.com/styles/hero/s3/2022-08/instacart-color-logo.png)
Instacart Promotional Calendar
A roundup of seasonal promotions.
January
- New Year, New You: Elevates brands and products that resonate with a healthy lifestyle, with Unilever’s SmartyPants securing a takeover of prime digital real estate during the first week of 2022.
- Dry January: In 2023, introduced a Dry January Pop-Up that lets shoppers buy non-alcoholic options. Social media activity supports.
February
- Super Bowl: Deep discounts on snack brands via a seasonal hub. Social media updates support.
- Valentine's Day: Social media updates spotlight gift ideas. Display ads showcase related SKUs, such as Conagra Brands’ Duncan Hines cake mixes and Reddi Whip cream. Email activity touts deals on flowers, alcohol and other gifts at participating retailers.
- Cold and Flu: Social media posts suggest sick day prevention supplies delivered via the platform.
- Chinese New Year: A Lunar New Year hub spotlights ingredients for celebratory dishes. Social media updates support.
March
- Pi Day: Brand-agnostic social media updates.
- Women’s History Month: Social media updates highlight female-owned businesses. In 2022, pledged $1 million to amplify women-owned CPG brands within the Instacart marketplace in honor of the month.
- National Nutrition Month: Enables produce brands, farms and agriculture boards to advertise through the Instacart Marketplace.
April
- Easter: Social media updates showcase confectionery.
May
- Mother's Day: Social media updates invite orders of candy and flowers, and in 2022 included a call to shop Black-owned beauty items from Sephora.
- Cinco de Mayo: Social media updates link to suggested recipes.
- Pet Month: Savings on brand partner Purina's products when meeting a minimum spend on eligible items.
June
- Father’s Day: Social media updates propose gift ideas. Best Buy took center stage in 2022 with a homepage banner ad directing shoppers to gifting recommendations from the consumer electronics retailer, including picks by singer Jason Derulo; a sweepstakes supported.
- Summer: Social media updates spotlight everything from popsicles to potato salad.
- Juneteenth: Social media updates highlight Black-owned brands.
July
- 4th of July: Social media updates promote grills and outdoor essentials from brands such as Neutrogena and Frito-Lay, linking to a seasonal hub corralling relevant items.
August
- Back to School: Social media updates link to a seasonal hub including back-to-school supplies, lunch items and dorm decor.
September
- Football: Seasonal hub for snack foods and beverages promoted with themed discounts. NFL sponsor PepsiCo headlined 2022 activity with on-platform display ads promoting an account-specific sweepstakes.
- Back to School
October
- Halloween: Seasonal hub and social media updates tout items such as candy and costumes.
- Cold/Flu: OTC items get spotlight via social media updates. Walgreens got the spotlight in 2022 with updates linking to a dedicated page corralling items from the drugstore retailer, such as P&G’s DayQuil.
- Football
November
- Thanksgiving: Social media updates remind shoppers to use the platform for last-minute holiday meal needs.
- Holiday: A spotlight on gift ideas as well as ingredients for holiday parties and gatherings via social media updates.
- Giving Tuesday: Cause efforts include a spotlight on Community Carts, Instacart's digital food drive benefitting Feeding America food banks. Social media updates support.
- Football
December
- 'Tis a Big Deal Week: For 2023, Instacart launched seven days of deals, accessible through its homepage and its app. Deals Week retailers include Bath & Body Works, Best Buy, the Body Shop, the Container Store, Kiehl's, Lowe's, Michaels and Petco. It also suggests other retailers, including Total Wine & More, for last-minute gift ideas, and touts its same-day delivery service.
- New Year: A spotlight on healthy ingredients via social media updates.
- Holiday