Instacart’s grocery pickup service is live in a handful of cities
Customers can select a time window in which to pick up their orders.
Instacart, known for its same-day grocery delivery services, is now giving customers the option of ordering their groceries and picking them up at the store later on. The company has been testing this service over the past few months, and now it's rolling it out to 25 markets across the US. "We want to make grocery shopping effortless by helping our customers get the groceries they need from the retailers they love," Instacart's chief business officer, Nilam Ganenthiran, said in a statement. "Our customers want choice and we're excited to now offer the pickup option they've been asking for."
Now, where available, Instacart customers can put together their grocery order and choose a pickup window that's convenient for them. Instacart will then notify them when their order is ready and customers can use the Instacart app to let the store know when they'll be there and what car they'll be arriving in. Their order will then be delivered to their vehicle once they arrive.
Pickup options are already available from major chains like Target, Walmart and Whole Foods. Amazon has also dabbled with AmazonFresh Pickup in Seattle. But with its Pickup service, Instacart brings that option to a number of other local stores in the regions where it has launched. Currently, the service is available in 200 stores in 25 markets near Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Nashville, San Francisco and Washington, DC. And stores like ALDI, Food Lion, Publix and Wegmans are already on board. The company says it will expand Pickup to more stores across the US throughout 2019.
