2 months ago

Instacart Is Revolutionizing Groceries: Why It's Time to Invest

It can be confusing, but Maplebear Inc. (NASDAQ: CART) is better known as Instacart, the world's largest online grocery marketplace, and they also deliver groceries from over 85,000 stores to over 25 million people. However, unlike other delivery services like Uber Eats, owned by Uber Technologies Inc. and the world's largest restaurant delivery service, DoorDash Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.; Instacart is making inroads into in-store shopping, not just delivery.

Its rollout of Flyers, a digitized version of weekly flyers from local supermarkets, and artificial intelligence (AI) powered Caper Carts, which scan, weigh, and track everything you put into your shopping cart at the grocery store, is paving the way to capturing a piece of the in-store grocery shopping experience. Instacart continues to transform itself in the business services sector. Investors are taking note of its 70% year-to-date (YTD) gains coming off fresh 52-week highs.

Instacart's Competitive Advantage: Convenience, Massive Network and Flexibility

Instacart uses a network of personal shoppers to fulfill orders at the stores and deliver them to customers. Delivery can be performed same-day, next-day, or even scheduled in advance. While grocery stores are the primary network, Instacart also includes major retailers, warehouse clubs and department stores as part of their massive networking including Home Depot Inc., Costco Wholesale Co., Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., Walmart Inc. Sam's Club, Sally Beauty Holdings Inc., and CVS Health Co.

Incidentally, non-members can shop at Costco through Instacart but will be paying non-member pricing. Costco members can add their member account number to their Instacart account to receive member pricing.

For retailers, Instacart enables them to turn in-store customers into omnichannel customers.