Dive Brief:

• Instacart announced Wednesday it has increased the rewards for its workers who are part of its Cart Star program. 
• The program, which has three tiers for the company’s “star” workers, boosted the cash back per gallon reward through its partnership with Upside and also added more perks. 
• Instacart separately announced this week it has enabled fully custom digital ordering as part of new features to its FoodStorm order management system.

Dive Insight:

With the update, Instacart now lets workers earn up to 30 cents per gallon cash back through Upside in the Gold tier and 35 cents in the Platinum and Diamond tiers. Platinum-level workers now get access to backup care through Care.com while those with Diamond status now have 75% off on oil changes through CarAdvise — up from the original 50% off. 

Instacart also debuted “Platinum Protection,” which ensures that shoppers who have completed at least 4,000 orders never drop below Platinum Cart status.

The updates to the Cart Star program come nearly a year after Instacart debuted the rewards program. Shoppers must maintain a 4.7 average on a five-star customer rating scale to be eligible for Cart Star.

“We've seen firsthand the positive impact the Cart Star program has had on shoppers’ experience with Instacart – from increased recognition to cost savings on important expenses like gas, car maintenance, child and senior care, and more,” John Adams, vice president of shopper and fulfillment product at Instacart, said in the announcement. “We’re excited to introduce updates that build upon our existing rewards and make them even more valuable to shoppers, as well as launch a new feature that celebrates some of the most experienced shoppers for their continued commitment to Instacart.”

Meanwhile, for its FoodStorm offering, Instacart added new capabilities to the features meant to simplify the process of selling, managing and fulfilling personalized made-to-order items. For example, customers ordering a custom birthday cake can now select the flavor and frosting and add a personalized message, which saves workers from having to manually add separate notes to the order. 

“Now, retailers can expand their online assortment, offer customers a more engaging ordering experience, and provide a seamless order management process for their teams,” Rob Hill of Instacart said in a blog post. 

Instacart acquired the Australia-based catering software company in fall 2021 and finished integrating FoodStorm into its Instacart app last summer.