Grocery Retailers Publix, Schnuck Markets, and More Strengthen Fulfillment and Advertising Offerings

Retailers like Publix, Key Food, and Schnuck Markets Inc may soon be able to tap into a new suite of grocery tech as part of their relationship with Instacart. 

Instacart Platform is providing retailers with advertising, fulfillment, and data solutions across multiple channels, with the ability to choose a-la-carte offerings or subscribing to all services in a single platform. 

[Related: Crafters, Get Ready: Michaels Expands Same-Day Delivery With Instacart Into Canada]

Retailers have three new offerings to choose from, including Carrot Ads, which provides monetization capabilities for advertising. Instacart is currently piloting its ads service with Schnuck Markets Inc., Good Food Holdings, Plum Market, and other select retailers, with plans to roll it out more broadly later this year. 

Bob Hardester, chief information and supply chain officer at Schnuck Markets Inc., said it will be using Carrot Ads to power its advertising across its digital offerings with the goal to provide consumers with a seamless shopping experience and provide more ways for them to discover new products. 

Carrot Warehouses provide more flexibility to local fulfillment models, including 15-minute delivery, new nano-fulfillment centers, automation services, and more. Carrot Warehouses will power 15-minute delivery for Publix customers in Atlanta and Miami in the coming months.

“Our partnership also enables Publix to serve customers in new ways, solving for additional customer use cases by enabling meals delivery and virtual convenience, Maria Brous, director of communications at Publix. ”We are eager to continue to test and iterate on these new concepts as consumer needs continue to evolve.” 

Lastly, with Carrot Insights, retailers gain real-time visibility into their operations by leveraging key performance and operational metrics like order volume and out of stocks. Key Food is among the retailers currently using the tool across their omnichannel operations.

“As a co-operative with a variety of banners making up the Key Food family of supermarkets, it’s incredibly important for us to not only understand how each of our banners are operating, but also how our ecommerce business is performing as a whole,” said George Knobloch, chief operating officer at Key Food Stores Co-Operative, Inc. 

Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart, said the grocery industry in particular is undergoing a digital transformation where consumers expect a seamless experience across several channels. In order to meet the growing needs behind the scenes as retailers try to expand its capabilities, Instacart said it is broadening services and building on its foundation to innovate faster. 

From Days, to Hours to Minutes — Fulfillment Speeds Up

In recent years, several retailers have announced overhauls of their fulfillment processes, looking to meet increasing demands as more consumers embrace digital shopping experiences and expect same- or next-day delivery. 

In RIS News' 2021 Supply Chain Tech Study, 46% of retailers said they see same-day delivery to their customers as a top fulfillment opportunity to increase sales or margins, while 56% said the same of shipping from stores.  

Sephora, for instance, launched same-day delivery this past October, in most major cities and suburbs. The brand’s jump into expedited shipping stemmed from a survey it launched, which showed that nearly half its customers cited same-day delivery as a top three delivery method. 

Other retailers like Walgreens and Bed, Bath & Beyond have jumped on the opportunity as well, newly offering same-day delivery to fulfill orders within a few hours to expanding the availability of these expedited services on a nationwide scale.