'Instacart' is offering San Franciscans a new way to buy their groceries online. The service lets shoppers choose groceries from Bay Area stores such as Safeway, Trader Joe's and Costco. The site then has a personal shopper gather the goods and deliver them to your house. Customers can choose how fast they want their groceries delivered: in under an hour, two hours or they can schedule for later (the fastest delivery was 19 minutes). Deliveries of orders over $35 are free.
The one caveat involved with Instacart is that the company prices the groceries sold. Some groceries may be priced lower than the store price, but others may be sold for higher. Instacart users need to pay for the service, which is currently priced at $99 a year.
Crowdsourced Grocery Services
'Instacart' Lets Shoppers Browser Goods from a Variety of Stores
Trend Themes
1. Crowdsourced Grocery Delivery - Opportunity to disrupt the grocery industry with an on-demand delivery service that sources from multiple stores.
2. Personalized Grocery Shopping - Opportunity to use data and technology to offer personalized grocery recommendations and savings to customers.
3. Online Grocery Marketplaces - Opportunity to create a platform that connects customers with local grocery stores and offers an easy and convenient way to shop for groceries online.
Industry Implications
1. Retail - Retailers can leverage technology and data to create innovative and convenient shopping experiences like crowd-sourced grocery delivery platforms to meet the changing needs of customers.
2. Logistics and Delivery - There's an opportunity to disrupt the traditional grocery delivery model by creating a more efficient and cost-effective model that leverages crowdsourcing and technology.
3. E-commerce - With the rise of e-commerce, there's an opportunity to create new online grocery marketplaces that connect customers with multiple grocery stores and offer more options and convenience.