1250091896 (N) by Alex Moazed

Author:Alex Moazed [Moazed, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2016-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

Instacart—product marketplace

As new Uber-for-X companies continue to join the on-demand economy, it seems impossible to stand out. But Instacart, founded in July 2012, has done just that. The on-demand grocery delivery platform has raised nearly $300 million in funding at a valuation of over $2 billion—all in just three years. A key part of Instacart’s success has been its effectiveness in helping its producers complete transactions efficiently. Instacart knows its shoppers are critical, because they are the ones who create value—without these shoppers, Instacart would have nothing to sell to consumers, just as Uber wouldn’t have anything to sell without its drivers. But it’s the extent to which Instacart has worked to perfect its dedicated shopper mobile app that has really allowed its business to grow.

“Our software—and the capabilities we build in to our shopper app—is designed to best help shoppers through every step of the shopping process, so we can optimize accuracy and efficiency,” Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta says. He isn’t just guessing here, nor is his team. “I go shopping weekly to experience it for myself,” Mehta says. “And our engineering team regularly spends time in the stores with shoppers to go through the process and verify how the app will be the most effective.”

What’s perhaps most unbelievable about Instacart’s growth is that just three years ago, the company had only one shopper: Mehta himself. “When I started Instacart, I began writing code for the first version of the app and, when it was ready, placed the first order. Then, I went to the grocery store, picked up my groceries and delivered them to myself,” he recalls. “So, technically, we started with one shopper in the summer of 2012 and have about 7,000 across the nation today.”

To improve its shoppers’ efficiency, Instacart has implemented several innovative features in its shopper app. One such feature is aisle navigation, which allows shoppers to know exactly where specific items are located within a store. Another feature allows shoppers to adjust quickly when a specific product isn’t available. “We’ve integrated replacement options into the app—from naming actual products to designating characteristics that would best match the original request. The shoppers can access over four million catalog items in real time and add custom replacement items,” Mehta explains.

As for its consumers, Instacart created tools to close the gap between their locations and the in-store shopping experience. The company arms its shoppers with the right information and tools so that they can make decisions as if the customers were in the store themselves. The app allows for this smart shopping with features like in-app chatting that allow shoppers to communicate easily with customers. This way customers will know right away if there are any changes or issues and can provide feedback if necessary. The app even has a few advanced features that let shoppers ensure they’re picking the right products. “We’ve integrated barcode scanning technology into the app so that [shoppers] can immediately verify that the item picked is the exact item requested,” Mehta says.

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