While San Francisco-based Instacart is best known for its online grocery delivery platform, the company also offers retailers technology to make instore shopping more convenient.

Last year, Instacart rolled out Caper Carts, AI-powered grocery carts that use computer vision and AI technology to automatically identify items as they are placed in the cart, allowing customers to bag their own groceries as they shop and checkout directly from their cart before leaving the store.

In January, the company shared that the Caper Carts will now have an added feature of showing shoppers personalized ads that will increase convenience for consumers while also increasing sales for retailers.

“Customer reception to Caper Carts has been strong with users offering a net promoter score of more than 70,” Instacart said. “In addition to the new ad capabilities, customers appreciate the ability to link their loyalty accounts to the carts, giving them access to personalized promotions and savings while shopping in-store. Caper Carts appeal to grocers of all sizes — retailers currently using or soon deploying carts include Bristol Farms, Fairway Market, Geissler’s, ShopRite, and Sobeys.”

The ad upgrade will debut in Good Food Holdings’ Bristol Farms stores in Southern California and roll out to additional retail partners in the months ahead, Instacart said.

“Since deploying Caper Carts last year, we’ve been incredibly excited to provide our customers with a greater personalized experience while driving value as they shop,” said Neil Stern, chief executive officer of Good Food Holdings. “With the introduction of ads on Caper Carts, we’ll soon be able to unlock a new, incremental revenue stream while offering customers valuable suggestions and promotions from our brand partners.”

Two of the launch partners for the new ads are Del Monte Foods and General Mills.

“Today’s omnichannel shopper expects frictionless experiences, whether they’re shopping online or in-store,” said Jen Reiner, vice president, omnichannel marketing, Del Monte Foods, Inc. “In addition to customized Instacart ad experiences on app, we can now utilize another touchpoint on the shopper journey through in-store Caper Carts ads. The Caper Carts provide an opportunity for us to provide meal inspiration, introduce new products or simply remind the shopper to stock-up on pantry staples, while continuing to deliver a personalized, relevant experience based on past shopping behaviors.”

“We’re proud to continue our partnership with Instacart by being one of the first brands to showcase our products on Instacart’s AI-powered smart carts,” said Raquel Navarrksi, customer vice president, General Mills. “We’re committed to showing up where our consumers are, no matter how they choose to shop. We’re excited to innovate alongside Instacart to help consumers discover and rediscover all their favorite General Mills products as they browse the grocery aisles and shop in-store.”

Instacart said the two main benefits of the new ads are:

• New products and brands, deals, and seasonal promotions to surprise and delight customers at the start of the shopping journey on the Caper Cart home screen. For example, a customer might see a creative banner highlighting limited-edition Chocolate Strawberry Cheerios from General Mills for Valentine’s Day.
• Personalized product recommendations based on their real-time shopping behaviors or cart contents. For example, if a customer adds ice cream cones, they might see a complementary item recommendation, like Dreyer’s ice cream.

“Late last year, we unveiled our plans to update most of our traditional shopping carts with Instacart’s smart carts, aiming to make shopping easier, more personalized, and efficient for customers,” said Bob Rybick, president and CEO of Geissler’s Supermarkets. “Now, with the introduction of ads on Caper Carts, we’ll be able to take that goal a step further – not only enhancing the in-store experience by helping customers discover new products, brands and promotions, but also unlocking a new revenue stream and opportunities to strengthen customer loyalty.”

This article is an excerpt from the February 2024 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Convenience feature and more in the digital edition here.