Staples, Office Depot partner with Instacart on large item delivery
A number of prominent retailers are among the first clients of a new Instacart service aimed at fulfilling online orders for big products.
Instacart is launching “Big & Bulky,” a new fulfillment capability that enables same-day and scheduled delivery for large items, “Big & Bulky” nationwide. The service is designed to enable retailers to offer more of their catalogs online.
Big Lots, Container Store, Mastermind Toys, Office Depot, Spirit Halloween, and Staples are some of the first retailers to use Instacart’s new Big & Bulky fulfillment solution. The retailers are now offering same-day delivery of larger items such as outdoor furniture, home office supplies and electronics via the Instacart app. In some cases, Big & Bulky is also offered via retailers’ own Instacart-powered websites.
The service allows customers to order smaller products directly alongside their large item orders for delivery at the same time. The fulfillment technology behind Big & Bulky runs on Instacart Carrot Delivery, an enterprise solution from Instacart that provides end-to-end fulfillment for retailers.
[Read more: Instacart launches Amazon-style e-commerce platform]
For Big & Bulky orders, Instacart shoppers who drive large vehicles can opt in to shop batches with large items. In pilot regions, Instacart says 97% of shoppers with eligible vehicles opted in to shop bulky batches.
“By introducing Big & Bulky, consumers can now access an even wider selection of items for same-day delivery. With football season just around the corner, Instacart’s Big & Bulky solution can provide customers with items like portable grills and tents for a tailgate or a 55” TV in case they’re watching from home — all in as fast as an hour,” said Daniel Danker, chief product officer at Instacart. “As a retail enablement partner, our goal is to support retailers’ bottom lines by expanding their online catalogs through our enterprise solutions. We’re excited to introduce Big & Bulky today and look forward to continuing to serve as an industry-leading fulfillment platform.”
“We’re excited to continue to expand our partnership with Instacart to offer customers on their platform even greater access to products and solutions from Office Depot and OfficeMax stores,” said Jamie Columbus, VP of e-commerce for Office Depot. “The new Big & Bulky fulfillment solution offers the ability to pair large items like desks, bookcases, file cabinets, office chairs, and more, with smaller items like tech accessories, binders and printer ink, for delivery together, same-day.”
“At Staples, we’re giving customers access to even more same-day delivery offerings through an expanded assortment on the Instacart platform,” said Ory Adler, VP, digital and e-commerce at Staples U.S. Retail. “This omnichannel approach allows us to remain on standby for customers, whether they need fast access to back-to-school supplies or items to build out their home office, and we look forward to our continued partnership.”
Instacart partners with more than 750 national, regional and local retailers to facilitate online grocery shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 70,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America.