Instacart announced a series of digital solution updates on its Instacart platform available to grocers across North America.
The new features include the following:
- Carrot Ads expand with display ads—Grocers have the opportunity to open up new revenue streams by displaying ads on their owned and operated websites.
- FoodStorm support for items sold by weight—FoodStorm, Instacart’s order management system, now supports items sold by weight, such as fresh food and prepared items typically found behind the meat and deli counters. The expansion allows grocers to offer digital ordering, pickup and delivery of their deli and meat departments through a single, connected platform.
- 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, enabling associates to solve customer issues like removing items that were accidentally scanned.
- Rosie ecommerce enhancements create a more integrated website solution—Rosie, Instacart’s white-label ecommerce 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 access customizable online storefronts with webpage creation capabilities.
The updates place emphasis on smaller independent grocers needs. The press release included several testimonials on Instacart’s new tools from various smaller retailers including Giuseppe’s Marketplace and Niemann Foods, Inc.
Ron Cook, vice president and director of marketing at Niemann Foods says the Rosie technology “just makes sense” in allowing them to have a marketplace on the Instacart App as well as their own branded online shopping experience using the Rosie technology.
“We want to open all doors, both physically and digitally, to people in our community. Using Rosie’s white-label ecommerce solution and Instacart’s App to serve customers, we have the opportunity to reach more people with our brand, our products, and our community-focused service,” said Cook.
“We’re proud to continue to expand the Instacart Platform to offer grocers new tools and technologies that help them evolve their online offering, create connected in-store experiences and develop an omnichannel strategy that supports the unique needs of their business and their customers,” said Chris Rogers, chief business officer at Instacart.
