The Information reports that Instacart is "gearing up" for the launch of a site - dubbed Instacart Business - that would appeal to small businesses, challenging both Amazon and Walmart, which have their own entries in this segment.
According to the story, "The move could help Instacart broaden its appeal beyond home grocery deliveries and comes as the company has been in a holding pattern on a long-awaited initial public offering. Instacart has been keeping its IPO paperwork up to date and could push forward once market conditions improve … Instacart has not yet set an exact launch date and the company is still finalizing parts of the product, including deciding whether to launch a business-specific version of its Instacart+ subscription service."
More context from The Information:
"While Instacart has offered same-day delivery for products from Staples since 2020 and Office Depot since 2022, the company is still known primarily as a grocery-delivery company, as the carrot in its logo reflects. As growth in at-home grocery delivery cools following the pandemic, launching a service catered toward business products could help Instacart widen its reputation from delivering just groceries to providing a broad range of products … Instacart has also been trying to diversify its sources of revenue beyond its core delivery business. The company has invested heavily in its digital advertising business, allowing brands to promote their products in search results and offer coupons through the app. Instacart’s ad revenue is expected to grow 41% this year, more than double the growth rate of Amazon’s advertising business, according to projections from Insider Intelligence."
- KC's View:
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It strikes me as sensible that Instacart is trying to broaden its base while still focusing on its core competencies … while I know a lot of folks are focused on the IPO, I'm much more interested in how the business continues to evolve.
That evolution, by the way, is what I'll be talking about with Chris Rogers, Chief Business Officer at Instacart, who will be appearing with me, live onstage, during the technology innovation track at the National Grocers Association (NGA) Show in Las Vegas.
I hope you'll join us for this and all the sessions we'll be conducting at the NGA Show on Sunday, February 26.
