Instacart Announces Next-Gen Fulfillment Initiative For Retail Partners

With the rapid adoption of online grocery shopping that’s taken place over the last year, the grocery industry has experienced an accelerated transformation that’s required retailers to reimagine their e-commerce footprint and explore new technologies to meet the needs of their customers. 

Today, Instacart unveiled the first phase of a next-generation fulfillment initiative designed to bring automated technology solutions to retailers across the U.S. and Canada. As part of the new initiative, we’ve also announced a multi-year strategic deal with Fabric as a fulfillment automation partner. With Instacart next-gen fulfillment, we will integrate leading software and robotics solutions with our own proprietary technology and growing shopper community to create new e-commerce services for retail partners and an even faster, more effortless online grocery shopping experience for customers. 

As part of this new next-gen fulfillment initiative, we will pair Fabric software and robotics with Instacart technology and shoppers to power a new fulfillment process within dedicated warehouses and existing retailer locations. The new process will marry the speed of robotics with the human touch and attention to detail of Instacart shoppers, enabling faster fulfillment of customers’ full grocery shop from packaged goods, household essentials and produce to deli items, frozen food and alcohol. Once orders are carefully packed, shoppers will deliver orders to customers’ doors or place them in staging areas for curbside pickup. 

Instacart’s goal has always been to support grocers and give retailers of all sizes an edge in an increasingly competitive industry, so we’re constantly exploring new technologies and solutions that we believe will deliver value and growth to our retail partners, as well as a better experience to customers and shoppers. We know there isn’t a one-size-fits all solution for retailers and we want to ensure Instacart has multiple solutions that meet the unique needs of our partners. This new solution will ultimately enable a faster experience for customers, and help retailers continue to innovate and compete. Our next-gen fulfillment work will also help reduce some of the things that make in-store shopping cumbersome for Instacart shoppers, like crowded store aisles, out of stock items and long checkout lines. We believe – over the long-term – partnering with retailers to bring next-gen fulfillment technologies together with the personal touch and care of Instacart’s shopper community will create an even more seamless online grocery experience that’s faster and more affordable for customers and delivers even more value and growth to retailers.

Instacart’s next-gen fulfillment initiative adds robotics solutions to the company’s existing grocery e-commerce offerings. Those offerings include the Instacart marketplace, which features more than 600 beloved national, regional and local retailers, including unique brand names; Instacart Enterprise, the company’s white-label enterprise-grade technology solution; and Instacart Ads, which connects thousands of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands to customers online. 

Looking ahead, we plan to kick off early-stage, next-gen concept pilots in partnership with Fabric and grocery retail partners over the coming year and beyond. 

To learn more about Instacart’s next-gen fulfillment initiative and our strategic partnership with Fabric, you can read the full press release here.

Instacart

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Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.