Instacart Lets Customers Pick Their Favorite Shoppers

Instacart is testing a feature that allows users to pick their favorite shoppers.

“We often hear that both customers and shoppers would love the ability for a customer to schedule an order with a specific shopper after a great experience,” the company announced on its website Wednesday (May 31).

With that in mind, Instacart will begin testing that “long-sought-after feature” in a pilot set to launch in the coming weeks.

During the test, select customers and shoppers around the U.S. will get an email informing them that they can test the new feature, which lets customers “favorite” shoppers they’ve worked with and trust. From there, Instacart said, those customers can choose to have future orders fulfilled by their favorite shoppers.

“In addition to providing customers with the opportunity to place orders with even more confidence, this feature also gives shoppers a new tool to help them develop deeper connections with their customers and grow their businesses,” the announcement said.

The pilot program follows last month’s announcement that Instacart was adding discounting and price-centric features, such as a “Stores to Help You Save” section to help consumers find lower-priced retailers.

“We know rising grocery prices won’t go away overnight — so we will continue to introduce new ways to save in the Instacart app over the coming months,” the aggregator said on its blog.

As PYMNTS noted at the time, providing this sort of price-focused promotions can be essential for retailers and aggregators to maintain consumers’ grocery spending, considering that high prices can lead consumers to search for other options.

Recent research by PYMNTS finds that many inflation-weary grocery shoppers are turning to less expensive merchants for high-trust items like consumer-packaged goods (CPG), but are less willing to compromise when it comes to fresh, perishable foods.

Research from the latest installment of PYMNTS’ Consumer Inflation Sentiment series, “Consumer Inflation Sentiment Report: Consumers Cut Back by Trading Down,” which used data from an April survey of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers, found that 47% of all shoppers have begun buying from a less expensive merchant for at least one grocery product.

The study found that 35% have done so for housekeeping supplies, 33% for personal care products and 32% for snacks.

“Yet fewer consumers are willing to trust discount merchants when it comes to the outer aisles of the grocery store,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this week. “Only 29% are trading down for dairy or fruits and vegetables, 27% for fresh meat and 25% for prepared food.”

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