Dive Brief:

• Instacart announced Thursday it has acquired Eversight, a pricing and promotions platform powered by artificial intelligence. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• With Eversight, Instacart said its retailer and CPG partners will have access to customized pricing tools and dynamic insights that link offline and online shopper behavior. They also will be able to test customized pricing and promotions with individual customers at scale, Instacart noted. 
• Instacart said the acquisition will help CPG brands and retailers offer better promotions and savings for customers with automated processes for pricing changes. 

Dive Insight:

Instacart noted the timing of the acquisition comes as high inflation rates are driving up the price of food and increasing customers’ grocery bills. E-commerce, in particular, with its service fees and tips can become a pricier alternative to the in-store shopping customers have returned to. 

“By combining Eversight’s leading pricing and promotions capabilities with Instacart’s world-class teams and technology, we’re positioned to deliver even more value to our brand and retail partners, while also creating more opportunities for customers to maximize their savings both in-store and online,” Instacart CEO Fidji Simo said in the announcement. 

For retailers, Eversight allows them to use both their physical and online storefronts to trial “micro” price point changes, Instacart noted. For example, Instacart said an unnamed retail partner’s work with Eversight over five weeks helped identify new price points across 30 categories that better resonated with customers and led to a 6% margin boost. 

Eversight’s CPG offerings will become part of Instacart’s Ads product and technology suite, while Eversight’s retail technology will become available through Carrot Insights under the Instacart Platform. 

Instacart noted it has partners who already work with Eversight, including Hershey’s, Coca-Cola and Raley’s Supermarkets. 

The Eversight acquisition is part of what Instacart said in an email is a “multi-faceted approach” to increasing the affordability of groceries for customers. That approach includes offering more access to more types of retailers, having a range of fulfillment options, expanding payment options and making deals easier to find on Instacart’s app. 

Instacart said it saw all-time highs in orders, gross transaction volume, revenue, ad revenue and gross profit in 2021 and has carried that momentum into this year.

Founded in 2013, Eversight is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Eversight is the sixth acquisition by Instacart, according to Crunchbase. Last October, the company announced plans in quick succession to buy smart cart maker Caper AI for $350 million and catering software firm FoodStorm for an undisclosed amount.