Instacart revamps subscription offering

Instacart is adding new shopping features to its subscription service.

The online delivery platform is relaunching its previous Instacart Express subscription service as Instacart+. The upgraded offering, available for $9.99 per month or $99 per year, provides members free delivery on orders over $35, 5% credit back on all eligible pickup orders, reduced service fees, and the ability to share their subscription.

In addition, Instacart+ includes a suite of new family-focused shopping features that will be rolled out during the next week:

• Family Accounts: Subscribers can share the benefits of their Instacart+ account with another person for free, including non-related household members.
• Family Carts: Households can collaborate in the cart-building process and shop together, adding their own items to a shared cart. 
• Exclusive benefits for Chase cardholders: Instacart is also expanding its partnership with Chase to provide new ways for customers to save. Beginning Wednesday, June 15, Chase cardmembers will be eligible to unlock free Instacart+ memberships, with Sapphire Reserve cardmembers able to receive one year free, Sapphire Preferred cardmembers six months free, and Freedom and Slate cardmembers three months free.

On top of these new offerings, Instacart+ subscribers will continue to receive benefits like extra perks from select brands, such as airline mileage bonuses.

"With today's launch, we're making Instacart+ the most cost-effective way for families to buy groceries and essentials with Instacart, delivered in as fast as 30 minutes,” said Daniel Danker, head of product at Instacart. "In addition to free delivery on orders over $35, credit back on Pickup, and reduced service fees, subscribers can now share Instacart+ with another person for free, and shop together to make ordering truly effortless."

Instacart prepares for ‘next chapter’
Instacart is upgrading its subscription offering as it prepares for what it calls the “next, tech-enabled chapter” of grocery with a 10-year strategy. As part of the recently publicized plan, Instacart says it will provide grocery retailers the latest innovations and insights in e-commerce, fulfillment, in-store, and advertising, to enable them to build the “store of the future.”

For consumers, Instacart says it will help retailers provide them access to “more affordable, nutritious food.” Instacart also plans to offer consumers a fully personalized, omnichannel shopping experience that will let them discover products based on their personal tastes and dietary needs.

Instacart has also been taking a number of steps that suggest the company wants to join major technology providers such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook. In March 2022, Instacart launched Instacart Platform, which offers a range of enterprise technologies (such as e-commerce storefronts and fulfillment solutions) retailers can use a la carte or as a suite.

Throughout 2021, Instacart made several other moves in this direction. In January, Instacart introduced a new model for its Instacart Pickup curbside service — Partner Pick. Through Partner Pick, a retailer’s employees utilize Instacart’s customizable pickup technology to fulfill Instacart Pickup orders.

July 2021 saw Instacart unveil the first phase of a micro-fulfillment initiative. And in October, the company acquired FoodStorm, an order management system provider whose technology enables end-to-end order-ahead and catering services for grocery retailers.

Instacart has partnered with more than 700 national, regional and local retailers to deliver from more than 65,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America. Instacart's platform is available to over 85% of U.S. households and 90% of Canadian households.