Instacart Teams With Industrious on Same-Day Delivery at Coworking Spaces

eGrocery’s Complexity Hinders Efforts to Build in-House Systems

Capitalizing on shifts in how consumers work, Instacart is going after the coworking spaces market with its latest partnership, seizing on businesses’ desire to draw consumers back into physical workplaces.

The grocery aggregator’s business arm announced Thursday (July 13) a partnership with Industrious, a coworking space company with more than 160 locations across more than 65 cities, to provide same-day delivery at all the firm’s U.S. offices and free yearlong Instacart+ memberships to Industrious business customers.

The coworking firm’s audience is small and large teams, and as such, this kind of partnership could be appealing to businesses trying to find perks to incentivize employees to come into the office at key times, given the population’s growing interest in working remotely.

“[A]s businesses around the country try to get their teams to gather in the same physical space, Industrious believes that the best way to encourage in-person creativity and productivity is by turning the workplace into a desirable destination,” Instacart said in a news release, adding that Industrious has seen foot traffic increase by 55% on average when it adds food perks.

Research from PYMNTS’ study “ConnectedEconomy™ Monthly Report: The Urban-Rural Health Divide Edition” revealed that remote work is up 9% year over year, as of April.

In an interview with PYMNTS earlier this year, Diane Swint, chief revenue officer at business catering firm ezCater, echoed Instacart and Industrious’ sentiment, noting that food is a key draw for in-office employees — one that businesses cannot scrimp on, even as prices rise, if they want to retain their staff.

“Food at work is a business tool, and so if you think about any business that relies on things like gasoline, you still have to drive the trucks from X to Y, and you’d have to pay for that gasoline, whether the price is going up or not,” Swint said. “We see the same thing with food.”

Additionally, Instacart has the opportunity with this partnership to encourage more consumers to try its marketplace, offering an opportunity for the aggregator to gain customers at a time when the same-day delivery model of eGrocery is losing out to other, more affordable channels.

Research from PYMNTS’ study “12 Months of the ConnectedEconomy™: 33,000 Consumers on Digital’s Role in Their Everyday Lives” found that, as of last November, 41% of consumers reported buying groceries online for curbside pickup in the previous month. Conversely, only 34% said the same of same-day delivery.

Instacart especially could shift the balance now, as more and more consumers try eGrocery for the first time or step up their digital engagement. Findings from “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Catching the Coming eCommerce Wave,” created in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), showed that 32% of shoppers said they are very or extremely likely to increase their online grocery purchases in the next year.


Fed Governor Michelle Bowman: Banking Regulations Should Allow Innovation

Federal Reserve, bank regulations

The regulatory framework should not prevent banks from providing innovative and competitive products and services, Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle W. Bowman said Monday (Feb. 17).

Speaking at the American Bankers Association’s Conference for Community Bankers in Phoenix, Bowman said that while the framework must promote safety and soundness in the banking system, it should not impede banks’ operations.

“Our work to maintain an effective framework is never really complete,” Bowman said in a speech to be delivered at the event. “Just as complacency can be fatal to the business of a bank, complacency can also prevent regulators from meeting their statutory obligation to promote a safe and sound banking system that enables banks to serve their customers effectively and efficiently.”

In terms of bank supervision, Bowman said supervisory ratings have led to a de-prioritization of core financial risks. Pointing to a Fed report that said most large financial institutions met supervisory expectations with respect to capital and liquidity but only one-third had satisfactory ratings across all relevant ratings components, Bowman said this raised a question about whether non-core and non-financial risks had been over-emphasized.

When it comes to bank applications, Bowman said the process may have created impediments that have led to a current lack of new bank formation. She added that regulators could improve the process by developing specialized expertise, streamlining the application process and improving transparency.

In the case of mergers and acquisitions, Bowman said “the purgatory of a long application process” could be remedied by updating application forms to include all the information that is needed and by adhering to fixed approval timelines.

Addressing regulation, Bowman said that the body of regulations applied to banks has grown dramatically since the 2008 financial crises and that some of those regulations may be outdated, unnecessary and overly burdensome.

“The banking system can be an engine of economic growth and opportunity, particularly when it is supported by a bank regulatory framework that is rational and well-maintained,” Bowman said. “The work of rationalizing and maintaining this system is an ongoing cycle. While my remarks today have touched on a wide range of issues that require rationalization and ‘maintenance,’ this is by no means an exhaustive list.”