Instacart, an online grocery delivery service provider has disrupted the whole grocery shopping industry. It has introduced doorstep grocery and home indispensable items in multitudinous cities of USA.
Its technology-driven business model boosts the on-demand delivery process in a vigorous way. Its same-day doorstep delivery concept makes Instacart one of the most promising and appreciating grocery delivery brands in the USA.
Instacart, the Story Started in 2012
Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Instacart, when he was 25, founded this on-demand grocery delivery startup in San Francisco. Now 30 years old ingenious leader has evolved the company with more than 300 full-time employees. It offers grocery delivery in an hour in a number of urban communities in 20 states.
Nowadays, Instacart is available in 70% of households all over the country. Last year, Mehta announced his goal to reach 80% of houses in the U.S. by the year-end of 2018.
February 2018, Instacart raised led $200 million by the Glade Brook Capital Partners as well as Coatue Management, and other investors. Instacart valued at $4.2 billion after the latest funding round.
Key Activities of Instacart
- Creating an effective technological infrastructure
- Dealing with local market partners
- Managing the shopper (Delivery partner) workforce
- 24/7 Customer service
The 4 Step Model That Shows How Instacart Works
This on-demand grocery delivery service has become popular in the current sharing economy. Presently, Instacart’s journey inspires many budding entrepreneurs. If you are one of them and want to learn more about the Instacart business model canvas then you are on the right page. In this article, we will shed some light on how does Instacart work and revenue model along with some absorbing facts about this successful $2 billion valuation company.
Let’s check out the following points to understand how Instacart works:
- Customers place their grocery order and pay online through Instacart application.
- Grocery shopper [delivery partner] gets the order and starts purchasing food items as mentioned in the list.
- Grocery shopper completes the payment process through Instacart’s pre-paid & debit card options.
- After that shopper goes to deliver the items to the customer’s doorstep according to the mentioned address in the order.
Key Players in Instacart Business Model
Instacart has combined business model of Airbnb and Uber and has created their own sharing economy module to run their business. Let’s explore the Instracart’s 3 tiered customer strategy which will help you get better knowledge about this fusion.
Users
Users can place their order through the Instacart’s app or website. They can select their preferable stores to order foodstuffs, write delivery instructions, they can pay by online, and also mention tips for the shoppers
Shoppers
Shoppers are the contractual employees or you can say they are part-time workers. Shoppers receive grocery request on their phone and shop all necessary items on behalf of the customers. They collect all mentioned items from the list and deliver it to the customer doorstep in a minimal time frame.
Stores
Many local stores are the partner of Instacart. Users can easily check out all the partner stores name to give their order. Instacart gives a platform to this local stores to increase their revenue growth through online sale.
This delivery and logistics company was founded in 2011 by Sam Street, Sean Plaice, and Bastian Lehmann.
In December 2014, Postmates launched its Application Programming Interface for the merchants to register.
It saves time and effort to go shopping and makes ordering food easier.
These couriers receive a notification when a consumer places an order and they go buy the items from the stores and complete the order.
This will give you a better understanding of how user-friendly it is and how it makes your life easier as a consumer.
Once your order is placed, a notification is sent to the nearest delivery person who is available near your location.
Instacart, a new on-demand grocery delivery service is revolutionising the grocery shopping industry.
It recently was ranked number as America's most promising companies in 2015 and is currently valued at 3.4 billion dollars after raising an additional four hundred million dollars.
They bring your groceries right to your doorstep.
It has its dedicated workforce that goes and shops for deliveries at these local stores, and on top, the Instacart revenue model is made up of markup on groceries plus the delivery fee in a revenue share agreement with its retail partners.
Instacart is offering a value proposition for all three of these customer segments.
For stores apparently, they're increasing their loyalty from customers outside of instacart and also offering an excellent online e-commerce channel.
"It was 2012, people were ordering everything online, meeting people online, watching movies online, yet the one thing everyone has to do every single week — buying groceries — we still do in an archaic way," - said Apoorva Mehta.
Presently, smartphones are common everywhere, and the use of apps to buy products online became a norm among the people.
Starting an e-grocery business- The Basics
Starting an online grocery business is a great idea if you have a successful app to tapp customers.
Apps have become the medium that your customers need to avail services.
Are you someone who is looking for ways to develop an app on a minimal budget, but also with high quality?
