Are you facing issues with buying your groceries regularly? Is it becoming difficult to wait 2 to 3 days for a list of groceries you made today? Are you worried if the groceries delivered to you are fresh or not? Do you need to travel long distances to visit your favourite supermarkets or shops?
If you are facing these problems regularly, you have come to the right place. In this article, we are going to discuss what is Instacart? Instacart Business models and Revenue Model. It is an on-demand online grocery shopping app.
Let us discuss all the Instacart features and Instacart Business models. After going through this article, you will get all the ideas about this platform and you will also become a part of their family of customers.
What Is Instacart?
Instacart is the top on-demand grocery delivery platform based in the USA. It has been delivered in major cities in the USA for 10 years now. It delivers groceries and other essential items to the people who are ordering, using the platform.
They promise to deliver all of your orders in as little as an hour. It is a technology-driven business that is making grocery shopping in the USA as convenient as possible. It is one of the most promising company brands, based on sharing economy model. This Instacart Business model is becoming so popular among entrepreneurs that they are interested in understanding the Instacart Business Model and its workings that will help it grow.
Instacart: Facts, Funding, And Timeline
- Instacart has been founded by Apoorva Mehta (CEO and founder) and Max Mullen (Co-Founder).
- It has been founded in the year 2012 and its headquarters is based in San Francisco, California, USA.
- The company’s valuation was $39 billion in March 2021.
- It has received a funding of $265 million which raised its valuation to $39 billion from $17.7 billion in October 2020.
- Instacart has generated a revenue of $1.5 billion in 2020.
We are providing you with a timeline graph that will show you the growth of this company over the last year.
In this graph, you can see that the amount of funds raised by the company is increasing year after year. It proves that the investors are gaining trust in this company.
Instacart: Salient Features
- The brand is available in major cities in the USA like San Jose, New York, Brooklyn, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles etc.
- This brand is running a chain of tie-ups in various grocery shops in most parts of the USA. It comprises a collection of more than 300, 000 stores. Moreover, it is trying to increase its chain of stores.
- It also allows part-time workers and cars to work with them.
- Instacart never gets a tight hand on their inventory.
- They promise you to deliver your ordered grocery within 1 hour. It is the fastest online grocery delivery service in the USA.
- Instacart has no warehouses of its own.
Instacart: Customer Segment Explained Clearly
User As a Customer:
- Users can order their groceries using the Instacart app or directly through the web interface.
- They can directly pay through the app by using an online money transfer.
- Users can place a single order from different stores.
- Users can also schedule their orders for a particular day, date, or time.
Shopper As a Customer:
- Shoppers get the orders placed on their phones.
- Shoppers are always near the stores or supermarkets. It saves the time of the customer and the shoppers as well. They manually pick up the orders and deliver them to the desired place.
- The shoppers get paid based on their hours. They also receive tips from the customers.
Store As a Customer:
- Instacart has a tie-up with all the huge and basic supermarkets and stores in major cities. These stores and markets have been increasing the revenues of Instacart for a long time now.
Instacart Business Model
Let us mention how Instacart works. It is a 4-step of Instacart Business Model. It is mentioned below-
- A consumer places an order from the stores and supermarkets of her/his choice and pays the bill amount online to Instacart.
- The same order is received by a personal shopper, who collects the items from the shops listed in the order.
- The shopper pays the grocery store with the prepaid debit card of Instacart.
- The shopper then goes to the mentioned address to deliver the items. Customers can also give tips to the shopper. The tips and perks are added to the account of the shopper and given to her/him at the end of the month included in the salary.
This is the whole Instacart Business Model on which it works.
Instacart Revenue Model
We have seen in the above section that Instacart is generating huge revenues per year. In the years 2020 and 2021, Instacart generated $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, in revenue.
These are high rates of revenue generated per year. Let us see, how does Instacart make money? Let us see how it is generating the revenues.
Delivery Fees
Instacart charges a delivery fee on every order that is placed using the app or the web interface. However, the delivery fees differ from the standard fixed rates. The delivery fees chart is mentioned below:
| Order Amount | Time of delivery | Delivery charge |
| Below $35 | 1-hour delivery | $9.99 |
| Below $35 | 2-hour delivery | $7.99 |
| Above $35 | 1-hour delivery | $5.99 |
| Above $35 | 2-hour delivery | $3.99 |
Membership Fees
Instacart also allows you to have an annual membership for $99. Under certain terms and conditions, this amount was once paid to you to get free groceries for the whole year. This creates a great profit margin for Instacart and the user also gets free deliveries for the year.
Mark Up Prices
Some shops included in Instacart have a markup price of 15% + more on them. This markup price goes as revenue to the Instacart account. This amount is then used to pay the shoppers. Not all shops on Instacart have this price mentioned.
See Also: 5 Grocery Delivery Industry Trends We’ll See In 2022
Instacart: How Does It Find Customers?
There are various ways in which Instacart is receiving regular customers. The ways are mentioned below:
People are getting the desired results from the services of Instacart, which helps them get great word of mouth publicity.
Instacart gives the first delivery free to customers, which helps them see and feel the ease and convenience of the service.
Instacart also has great internet and social media marketing. It also helps them get lots of customers.
There are various offers going-on on the app which help them bind a customer with them. These happy customers eventually create word of mouth publicity.
Instacart: Problems and Their Solutions
People are using Instacart regularly in the USA. They are gaining a good amount of trust because they are solving lots of problems for the customers. Let us discuss the problems and the solutions, Instacart is providing to the customers.
From this portion, you will get to know why Instacart has been the number one on-demand online Grocery Delivery Solution.
Reduced Delivery Time
The biggest issue that occurred while shopping for groceries was the time required to do the same. The time used to extend up to three to four hours before Instacart. This used to be the biggest problem for the customers back then.
Instacart gives a super-fast delivery of 1 hour to all its customers. The customers have saved a lot of time because of this. Consumers can use all the time saved constructively for various purposes.
Customized Grocery List
You don’t need to worry about buying different items from different shops or markets. You can easily customize your grocery list with items from different shops. Your shopper will deliver the items to you at the mentioned time. you don’t need to worry at all about it.
The Wrong Item Delivery
Instacart provides shoppers with a full-time support team that helps them with any queries through calls or emails. If the shopper did not bring the correct items or missed any of the items, the app gives you a refund for that. This usually doesn’t happen very often.
Fresh Groceries
This is one of the best features of Instacart. They provide you with an hourly delivery, which ensures that the items provided to you are fresh. Other online grocery shopping apps, like Amazon, etc., do not provide you with this feature.
Customer Trust
This is the most common issue faced by users when they shop for groceries online. They cannot trust the person of delivery or the shop owners. They cannot say if the items are freshly provided or not. Customers may also be concerned about pricing.
You need not worry when you have Instacart at your side. This platform eliminates all the problems faced by online shoppers when shopping online. Trust plays the most important role while doing online shopping, and Instacart does it all.
Wrapping It Up
As we Mentioned Above What is Instacart? What is Instacart? Instacart Business Model and Revenue Model. Instacart is the best on-demand grocery shopping app that is trusted by more than $10 million active users. These active users trust Instacart over the fresh delivery, 1-hour services and many more. Instacart never compromises with its promise, which makes it the first choice of people in the USA!
