Instacart To Offer Grocery Pickup Nationwide By Year-End

Instacart is expanding the Instacart Pickup offering to all 50 states by the end of 2020, following a year of sizable growth that doubled its grocery partners and tripled the number of states, the company announced on Tuesday (Jan. 14).

The click-and-collect service, which enables customers to purchase items online and pick them up in-store, is thriving as shoppers aim to save on shipping and avoid the wait of delivery. 

“The growth and expansion of Instacart Pickup are being driven by the rapid customer adoption we’re seeing for the product as well as the significant benefits that it offers our retail partners,” the company said.

The revised Instacart Pickup product was slowly introduced to customers over the past several months. New features include smart storefronts that allow people to see delivery and pickup options from a single digital storefront, alcohol pickup with more than 20 retail partners, “on the way” alerts for faster curbside handoff and more.

In anticipation of expansion in 2020, the company tapped Instacart veteran Sarah Mastrorocco to fill the new position of general manager, Instacart Pickup. She will oversee and scale Instacart’s pickup operation. 

“2020 is the year of pickup. For our retail partners, we’ve seen Instacart Pickup become a gateway to growth in a margin-thin industry. Our pickup product is also becoming a significant revenue contributor for our retail partners, growing customer basket size by an average of 15 percent and accounting for an average of 20 percent of a retailer’s total Instacart store sales,” said Nilam Ganenthiran, President of Instacart. “By year-end, we expect to have the largest pickup retail footprint in North America and, in the coming years, to grow Instacart Pickup into a multi-billion dollar business.”

This year Instacart anticipates doubling the number of stores offering pickup. Instacart delivery is offered to more than 85 percent of U.S. homes and more than 70 percent of Canadian households.

In November, the Tech Workers Coalition and Gig Workers Rising protested outside Instacart headquarters in San Francisco. At issue was compensation for Instacart’s shoppers.