Instacart’s latest offerings are for grocers nationwide of all sizes — companies that want different kinds of help, even in the physical store.
The new features are focused on helping retailers capture new ad revenue, bring more of their store online, better support store associates and seamlessly offer end-to-end fulfillment, according to a news release. These new capabilities are already being used by wholesalers such as Associated Food Stores and retailers including New Seasons Market, Niemann Foods, The Fresh Market and Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace.
“The strategy of being on both the Instacart App and having our own branded online shopping experience using Rosie technology just makes sense. We want to open all doors, both physically and digitally, to people in our community,” Ron Cook, Niemann Foods vice president and director of marketing, said in the release. “Using Rosie’s white-label e-commerce solution and Instacart App to serve customers, we have the opportunity to reach more people with our brand, our products and our community focused service.”
Instacart is focused on helping grocers of all sizes serve their customers and communities, Nick Nickitas, Instacart general manager of local independent grocers, said in the release.
“Instacart is building technology to invest in the future of our retail partners, and we believe that local and independent grocers in particular can benefit from easy, affordable solutions that are built just for them,” Nickitas said.
The Instacart Platform features include a variety of services and tools:
- Carrot Ads expands with display ads, opening new revenue streams for grocers. Carrot Ads helps small and large grocers alike establish and grow their retail media networks to capture new revenue streams on their owned and operated websites and apps. Grocers can now offer display ads, in addition to Instacart’s sponsored product solution, to connect CPG brands with consumers on their e-commerce properties, creating new opportunities for growth. Display ads enable national CPG brands to promote engaging, targeted, creative banners to raise awareness and consideration of products, helping to drive bigger baskets for grocers. Carrot Ads also gives grocers and CPG brands access to closed-loop measurement and insights — helping them both understand the strategies that drive the most value for their businesses.
- FoodStorm support for items sold by weight enables digital ordering for more items. FoodStorm, Instacart’s order management system, now supports items sold by weight including all fresh food and prepared items typically found at deli and meat counters, like deli meats and cheeses, premade dishes and salads, and specialty items such as Thanksgiving turkeys and holiday hams. With this expansion, grocers can now support order management and offer digital ordering, pickup and delivery of their deli and meat departments through a single, connected platform. This creates incremental sales opportunities and reduces preparation pressure for retailers and delivers a more seamless experience for customers.
- Caper Cart remote management offers auditing tools for store associates. Caper Carts, smart carts by Instacart, can now be managed remotely in real-time via tablet, giving retailers a remote bird’s-eye view of their stores, making it easy to see how many carts are being used, what types of items are being shopped and to flag issues for audit.
- Integrated fulfillment for Rosie-powered websites help independent grocers to get online. Rosie, Instacart’s white-label e-commerce solution for local and independent grocers, now allows retailers to use Instacart fulfillment services to pick, pack and deliver orders. With integrated fulfillment, independent grocers can now get everything they need for e-commerce in one place, affordably — from easily-customizable online storefronts with robust web page creation capabilities to fulfillment and customer support.
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“As customers are increasingly turning to our stores for easy meals and prepared foods, it’s important that we have the right technology and infrastructure in place to manage this complex, fresh food ordering process,” New Seasons Market E-commerce Director Erica Racette said in the release. “With the addition of the weighted item functionality, we are able to move our holiday meal ordering to FoodStorm’s OMS and deliver an elevated customer experience.”
Besides these new features, grocers have access to a full suite of technology and tools through the Instacart Platform, including white-label e-commerce solutions; end-to-end fulfillment through Instacart’s community of hundreds of thousands of shoppers; in-store technologies including Caper Carts, Scan & Pay, and Carrot Tags; and advertising solutions to deploy a retail media network directly on their e-commerce sites and find advertising opportunities with thousands of brand partners.
"We've been using Rosie’s white-label e-commerce technology for a long time, and we are very excited about the ability to tap into Instacart’s robust shopper community to pick, pack and deliver orders from each of our retailers’ owned and operated e-commerce sites,” said Thomas Horne, senior e-commerce manager for Associated Food Stores. “We believe this integration will help us expand our service to more people in our communities. Rosie and Instacart offer the only e-commerce solution that enables retailers like us to offer end-to-end experiences to our customers."
These services are important to independent grocers, industry association leaders say.
“We're encouraged to see Instacart continue to invest in technologies that enable local and independent grocers to compete," Laura Strange, National Grocers Association senior vice president of communications and external affairs, said in the release.
Instacart will showcase these technologies at booth No. 1349 at the Feb. 26-28 NGA Show. On Feb. 16, Instacart Chief Business Officer Chris Rogers and Vice President and General Manager of Connected Stores David McIntosh will participate in a fireside chat on the future of grocery during the Technology Summit.
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The Fresh Market has leveraged Instacart Platform to grow its e-commerce business, The Fresh Market Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Miller said in the release.
“We’ve been impressed by Carrot Ads' performance to date, and we’re excited to explore new formats, like display ads, so we can better help CPG brands inspire consumers as they shop our e-commerce site,” Miller said. “This will further unlock new digital revenue streams for our business — impacting our bottom line.”