Specialty grocer meets delivery demand

Ethnic grocery chain H Mart is expanding its partnership with Instacart nationally.



Lyndhurst, New Jersey-based H Mart, which operates more than 45 U.S. and Canadian stores, specializes in Asian grocery products. H Mart is now offering Instacart deliveries in as little as one hour to consumers in Philadelphia. Coming soon, the retailer will also offer Instacart services in markets including Orange County, Washington, D.C., suburbs, Atlanta, Chicago suburbs, Los Angeles, and Houston. Instacart prices will match H Mart in-store prices.



“We are pleased to expand our offering on Instacart to other cities throughout the U.S.,” said Sam Kim, director of marketing & management planning, H Mart. “Customer feedback has been incredibly positive, and the best way to reach new customers is to offer same-day delivery.”



Even smaller specialty grocers are seeing the value in providing on-demand online delivery to their customers. In many instances, the average shopper of a highly targeted retailer such as H Mart may be higher income and have higher average basket size than the average shopper of a larger, more mainstream retailer with more purchase volume.



Thus it also makes sense for Instacart to tap into local, ethnic and other specialized grocers that have less reach than some of its higher-profile clients.