Sprouts, Piggly Wiggly and Harps Foods embrace Instacart

Dive Brief:

Sprouts has added Instacart in six states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Some orders will be delivered in as little as one hour, Sprouts said in a press release.
Piggly Wiggly Midwest, which has more than 100 locations in Wisconsin and Illinois, has launched same-day delivery from Instacart for the first time, using it for most of its stores in Wisconsin.
Harps Foods will bring the service to shoppers in northwest Arkansas and additional areas in Missouri and Oklahoma after launching its partnership with Instacart last year.

Dive Insight:

While larger grocers ramp up investments to strengthen their e-commerce and delivery capabilities internally — think Walmart and Ahold Delhaize with Peapod and Kroger with Ocado and Ship — Instacart continues to gain traction with smaller retailers that don't have the infrastructure to tackle e-commerce fulfillment on their own.

The company now has more than 300 retail partners across North America, serving over 4,000 cities, and is accessible to more than 70% of U.S. households. In an email sent to Grocery Dive, Andrew Nodes, vice president of retail accounts, said Instacart is "proud to partner with a growing list of national and regional retailers across North America."

Smaller grocery companies and regional chains may not tip the scale for Instacart on their own, but together these grocers comprise a notable segment of Instacart's business. For these retailers, the company offers immediate name recognition that may resonate with their shoppers and a proven model that they know will work.

"By launching new partnerships like Piggly Wiggly Midwest, as well as expanding with current partners like Sprouts Farmers Market and Harps Food Stores, we're making it easier for people and families in communities throughout the U.S. to get the groceries they need and get back valuable time in their day," said Nodes.

A recent survey from Bain & Co. found that many shoppers are still reluctant to conduct their grocery shopping online, but as more neighborhood grocery stores and community retailers offer the service, their loyal shoppers may feel more comfortable giving it a try.

Instacart faces growing competition from startups that want to win over its largest customers — especially retailers that have expressed dissatisfaction with Instacart — so the company's embrace of regional grocery chains could strengthen its adoption in cities and towns of every size across the U.S.