For some years now, Instacart, the Californian startup that delivers food to the home, has been establishing itself as the ideal ally for American supermarkets that want to grow in the e-grocery sector – without having to invest in a specific integrated chain management. An anti-Amazon that is still used even by Whole Foods, following an agreement prior to the acquisition by the giant created by Jeff Bezos. In recent months alone, Instacart has signed new agreements with retailers such as Albertson’s, Aldi, Sam’s Club and Loblaw, thus exceeding 300 partnerships considering national and regional retailers. Now it is available in 4,000 North American towns for a total of 15,000 points of sale, predicted to increase further soon. By next October 500 Kroger stores will be added to the list. Indeed Kroger has just decided to expand the cooperation – that was launched last year – on a larger scale, bringing it to a total of 1,600 supermarkets.
THE BENEFITS
The US retailer will therefore offer its customers the Instacart option in 75 more cities including Atlanta, Nashville, and Memphis, allowing them to receive their shopping at home within two hours of ordering. All this while keeping the possibility of purchasing directly from its online platform, so as to ensure practicality and full connection with its brand.
THE ROLE OF INSTACART
For its part, Instacart is strengthening its business proposing itself as an absolute protagonist of food and beverage e-commerce. According to the latest study by Brick Meets Click, in the US its service carries about 5.5% of food spending and, as predicted by Nielsen’s analysts, it will reach a turnover of 100 billion dollars by 2022 involving 70% of American consumers.
KROGER’S STRATEGY
Because of these figures, Kroger does not intend to focus exclusively on the alliance with Instacart. The retailer, in fact, is working on several fronts. From the agreement with Ocado for the management of automated warehouses to the development of Kroger Ship, its own delivery service, it is also ready to bet on driverless delivery.