Instacart workers will soon have a new tool that scores how well its workers shop for customers.
The grocery technology company announced Monday that it is rolling out a shopping quality score over the coming weeks that will provide information on the number and condition of items the worker selected. Instacart said it expects to finish launching the tool before the end of May.
The rating ranges on a sliding scale from “Needs work” to “Standard” to “Good” and is based on orders completed in the last 90 days. A worker needs at least 20 orders to populate a score.
The score incorporates factors that workers can control, such as an item’s condition and accurate selection, while taking account of factors that are out of their control, such as out-of-stocks. The rating will also factor in store inventory and times of day shopped so that inventory issues don’t negatively impact it. Instacart said the shopping quality score is based only on aspects a shopper can control in order to be fair and that the company only includes verified and legitimate order issues when calculating the scores.
Fulfilling requested items and accurately picking replacement items will positively impact the score, while unrequested refunds, damaged goods, missing items and wrong items all hurt the score.
Later this year, the score will factor into workers’ eligibility for Cart Star, a tiered rewards program that gives workers access to more perks and order batches.
When asked if the score will factor into workers’ performance reviews and pay, an Instacart spokesperson said the shopping quality score, at launch, will only serve as a guide for workers to understand how they are doing.
Along with the new shopping quality score, Instacart also said it improved customer feedback verification. Now, customers must provide unit-level details and submit real-time photo proof to verify a claim. Instacart has also added deeper reviews of receipts and photos in its verification process, which will give workers more transparency into issues raised by customers, Instacart said.
When combined with customer ratings, Instacart said the score can help give its workers “a more holistic view on how you’re doing.”
The new features come as Instacart looks to retain its approximately 600,000 gig workers as rivals such as DoorDash and Uber up their grocery delivery options.
