Instacart

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“To be the world leader in online grocery”

Founded: 2012 in San Francisco, USA

Category: Supply Chain/ Logistics

Primary office: San Francisco, CA

Core technical team: San Francisco, CA

Status: Private

Employees: 1200

Amount raised: $1.9 billion (11 rounds – November 2018)

OVERVIEW

Provides an on-demand grocery delivery service to millions of North Americans. It enables users to create their shopping lists across various grocery stores and connects them with independent contracted “personal shoppers” to handpick grocery items on users’ list and deliver to their doorstep in less than 1 hour, consequently, creating jobs for shoppers, making life easier for users and driving increased revenue for stores

PERFORMANCE METRICS

Valuation: $7.6 billion (2019)
Annual Revenue: $2.9 billion (2019)

ACHIEVEMENTS

High profile Venture- backed – Ycombinator, Sequoia capital, etc.
16 million monthly website visits
Largest online grocery catalog
Operates in over 5,500 cities and 25,000 different grocery stores
Over 175,000 active shoppers in US & Canada

Sells

Online Marketplace
Instacart Express – offers unlimited grocery delivery service at a fee
Instacart Meals – offers user-friendly order and delivery of made-to-order/build your own food option for meals (in partnership with Publix’s made-to-order food counter)

Channels

Online and Mobile Apps (iOS & Android)
Partners with large and popular grocery chains – Loblaws, Walmart, Costco, Petco, Publix, Sam’s club
Affiliate marketing

Competencies

Founder-led Management team
Big data Analytics & Machine learning
Logistics, delivery

Resources

Assets

Partners with over 350 retail brands with 25,000 stores across US and Canada
API integration with partner stores; ordering and check out systems
“Shop Talk”, a shoppers’ community – offering support, news updates, tips and tricks for its growing number of shoppers
Highly secured payment platforms – in partnership with Stripe and Marqeta

Processes

User-friendly omni-channel platform for easy click and add to grocery list.
Quick scan & Instant cash-out features for seamless enjoyable experience for its shoppers
Smart cart – personalized offerings on combo options and discounts on grocery items
Integrated Mobile checkout compatible with Apple pay or Google pay

Priorities

Launch in new markets
Improve AI algorithm for improved user experience
Grow workforce to meet growing demand
Potentially create an innovative grocery retail model (Forbes)

Assertions That Best Describe What the Company Did to Scale Early, Rapidly & Securely

Develop and sell products that address a problem, job to be done or a need that is shared by a large and growing number of individuals and organizations in various regions to increase sales.
Continuously improve the user interfaces and applications that directly influence the entirety of the customer experience including personalized content, quality messaging, and the delivery and returns process to increase sales
Increase sales by applying big-data analytics to produce information about users, suppliers and customers
Increase market share by applying digital technology to brand, market, sell, and service customers more cost-effectively than competitors
Increase value by arranging and directing a community comprised of groups that are external and internal to the company and connect everything needed to scale
Increase the company’s value by continuously seeking and receiving funding to support the company’s plan to scale and improve its image in the marketplace

References

Clark, K. 2018. Instacart raises another $600m at $7.6billion valuation. [online]. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/16/instacart-raises-another-600m-at-a-7-6b-valuation/

Crunchbase. 2019. Instacart. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/instacart

Instacart website. https://www.instacart.com/

Owler. 2019. Instacart. https://www.owler.com/company/instacart

Contributors

Yinka Olanrewaju-Olawepo
Dan Craigen