Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, unveiled Connected Stores – a bundle of six new Instacart Platform technologies that layer on top of existing offerings, helping grocers bring together the best of online ordering and in-store shopping for consumers. Connected Stores create a unified, personalized experience for customers by enabling them to move seamlessly between a retailer’s app or website and its physical, in-store experience. Together, Instacart and Good Food Holdings will open the first Instacart Platform-powered Connected Store at Bristol Farms in Irvine, California.
As part of Connected Stores, Instacart is announcing six new Instacart Platform offerings: the new Caper Cart, Scan & Pay, Lists, Carrot Tags, FoodStorm Department Orders and Out of Stock Insights modular technologies that help retailers connect online and in-store experiences. These new technologies will connect directly with Instacart’s ecommerce solutions, including Storefront Pro. Grocers of all sizes across the U.S. and Canada have already piloted these technologies and others, including Wakefern Food Corp., Schnucks, and Joseph’s Classic Market, will soon be deploying elements of Connected Stores.
“We believe the future of grocery won’t be about choosing between shopping online and in-store – consumers are going to do both,” said Fidji Simo, Chief Executive Officer at Instacart. “The launch of Connected Stores is another exciting step for Instacart as we partner with retailers to help invent the future of grocery. Through these technologies, we can now offer consumers the best of online shopping inside physical stores, and vice-versa. Ultimately, we believe that the more customers connect with grocers across both online and in-store experiences, the more retailers’ businesses will grow.”
“In today’s competitive environment, grocers need a technology partner that can help them digitally transform in ways that reflect and augment their unique identities while delighting customers,” said Jordan Speer, Research Director, Product Sourcing, Fulfillment, and Sustainability at IDC. “Omnichannel offerings such as Instacart’s modular Connected Stores create opportunities for grocers of all sizes to innovate in stores and offer seamless experiences across online and in-store”.
“At Good Food Holdings, we’re proud to provide our customers with a personalized shopping experience – whether they’re opting to build their baskets online or joining us in-store. As customers have adopted delivery and pickup over the past year, we’ve found it increasingly important to evolve our business with omnichannel customers at the forefront,” said Neil Stern, Chief Executive Officer at Good Food Holdings. “As we look to the next decade of grocery, we want to make sure that we’re providing an inspirational shopping trip for our customers – and this starts by building a Connected Store. In partnership with Instacart, we’re excited to introduce multiple ways to checkout with Caper Cart and Scan & Pay, while driving inspiration through Lists and Carrot Tags. Instacart is an innovator in grocery technology, and we’re thrilled to be their partner and debut the first-ever Connected Store at Bristol Farms this year.”