Associated Food Stores leverages Instacart e-commerce capabilities
A regional grocery wholesaler and co-op is deploying white label e-commerce solutions from Instacart.
Associated Food Stores (AFS), which operates corporate and member stores across the Intermountain West, is bringing Storefront and Storefront Pro, the end-to-end customizable white label e-commerce solutions built specifically for supermarket retailers by Instacart, to its five owned and operated banners and more than 40 member-owned banners.
Instacart Storefront features built-in catalog services for “rich browsing experiences,” automated marketing campaigns to boost customer conversion, and rapid deployment of the consumer-centric features and sales tactics for driving growth.
Other Instacart Storefront features include same-day priority delivery in as fast as 30-minutes, no-rush and schedule-ahead delivery, and pickup. Instacart Storefront also includes access to an app for store associates that helps them pick and pack orders.
Retailers can upgrade to the Pro tier to gain access to premium features such as fully customizable merchandising, self-serve marketing tools to run lifestyle campaigns, the ability to add a retail media network, a dedicated Instacart support team, and support for third-party integrations such as coupons, loyalty and POS technologies.
"Partnering with Instacart gives our local, independent retailers the ability to offer their shoppers a world-class online shopping platform – one that meets or exceeds what other regional or national grocers are doing today," said Jason Sokol, VP of marketing at AFS.
This partnership builds on AFS member retailers’ existing partnerships with Instacart, including:
- Davis Food & Drug introduced Caper Carts smart carts to all stores in 2024 in addition to Carrot Tags, Instacart’s electronic shelf label software.
- Stewart’s Marketplace debuted Caper Carts in 2024, along with Carrot Tags, earlier this year.
- Soelberg’s Market launched Caper Carts in 2024. This year, Soelberg’s has been taking and fulfilling online orders via the Instacart app and supporting its owned and operated website with Storefront Pro.
[READ MORE: Associated Food Stores automates distribution center]
"We’re excited to partner with AFS to bring our white-label e-commerce solutions and retail media monetization to their owned and operated stores and independent retail banners," said Nick Nickitas, GM of independent grocery and mid-market retail partnerships at Instacart. "AFS has always championed innovation for local grocers, and together we’re scaling their digital transformation."
As a Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) member, AFS is also leveraging Carrot Ads as its retail media network.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Instacart partners with more than 1,800 national, regional and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from nearly 100,000 stores across North America
Associated Food Stores is a retailer-owned wholesale cooperative based in Salt Lake City, Utah. What began as a partnership among 34 grocers to strengthen buying power and compete with national chains has grown into a network of nearly 500 stores across the Intermountain West operating under banners including Fresh Market, Lin’s, Macey’s, Broulim’s, Davis Food & Drug, Kent’s and Lee’s.
