Founded in 2012 “to bring the grocery industry online and help make grocery shopping effortless,” Instacart is partnered with more than 1,400 national, regional and local retail banners representing more than 85% of the US grocery market.
PepsiCo’s decision to take a stake in Instacart comes as the company seeks to build out its digital capabilities. Ramon L. Laguarta, chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, hinted at such a strategy in a July 13 conference call to discuss financial results, saying the company is focused on being a more intelligent company in a broader sense, “having better data, having better digitalization and execution capabilities.”
Mr. Laguarta also made similar comments about PepsiCo’s reliance on technology for growth during a February 2022 presentation at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York virtual conference.
“Ultimately, we strive to better leverage technology and data analytics to capture data at a more granular level and ensure we have the right products in the right location at the right place or what we refer to as precision at scale,” Mr. Laguarta said in 2022.
Meanwhile, in its SEC filing Instacart said it will be making investments “with a long-term focus.”
“Every decision we make as a company stems from a fundamental belief that, in order to succeed, we need to work together across the entire grocery industry — supporting retailers and brand partners, giving consumers an affordable, accessible and personalized experience they can’t find anywhere else, and creating flexible earnings opportunities for shoppers,” Instacart said. “We are in the business of growing our partners’ businesses, which is reflected in one of our company’s core values: ‘Grow the pie.’ In a world where success too often comes at the expense of someone else, we believe that there is more than enough to go around — and that, by working together with our retail partners, we can create more opportunities for the entire industry.”
In its prospectus, Instacart identified nine ways it offers value to brands: high return on investment; high-intent customers; actionability and immediacy; self-service management; first-party data; measurability; impactful insights; broad solution set; and national retailer scale.
“CPG brands are seeking more opportunities to connect digital advertising investments directly to sales impact,” Instacart said. “Instacart Ads offers CPG brands an opportunity to move products off of store shelves as a direct result of their ads on Instacart. We help them advertise their products in a way that can enable an immediate purchase that can be delivered to the customer within hours or even minutes. The real-time nature of purchase and consumption allows brands to optimize their targeting and messaging to achieve compelling returns on investment.”
