Instacart Unveils Suite Of Services For Retailers, Including 15-Minute Delivery
Retail Dive | March 30,2022
As Instacart faces slowing growth, increasing competition and retailers becoming less reliant on its marketplace for online sales, the company is evolving its business strategy and trying to sell grocers on a suite of services that will help them navigate the costly, complex e-commerce landscape.
According to the company's announcement, Instacart is making available to retailers the full range of tools that have helped fuel its marketplace's rise over the past several years. It's also offering new services and technology, like dark stores, and bringing everything under its newly updated branding that accentuates its carrot logo.
The suite of technologies ranges across e-commerce storefronts, fulfillment, in-store technology like smart carts, advertising and data insights. Some of the capabilities are ones Instacart has offered for some time, while others are services Instacart previously announced as upcoming options. The company has built online storefronts and apps for years, fueled by its 2018 acquisition of Unata. Last year, Instacart added in-store smart carts and prepared foods management technology to its roster.
Instacart said its 15-minute delivery service, which nods to the growing popularity of rapid fulfillment that companies like Gopuff have capitalized on, will become available to Publix customers in Atlanta and Miami "over the coming months." The ultrafast delivery service is supported by the new nano-fulfillment centers, or NFCs, Instacart is offering to build for retailers, along with offering floor plan design, automation services and operational support.