Press Release
Instacart Serves Up More Fresh Produce with Innovative New Advertising Capability
In Collaboration with The White House, Instacart Unveils Industry-First Offering That Expands Advertising to Fresh Produce Brands, Farms, and Agricultural Boards
Instacart Ads Helps People Discover More Fresh and Nutritious Options From Brands Like Bowery Farming, California Giant Berry Farms, Gotham Greens, Grapes from California, Love Beets, Mastronardi Produce, NatureSweet, Sunkist, The California Sweetpotato Council, and The Florida Department of Agriculture
SAN FRANCISCO, March 24, 2023 — Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, today announced an industry-first online advertising capability, enabling produce brands to advertise fresh, weighted items – such as carrots, grapes, onions, oranges, sweet potatoes, and watermelons – from the produce department across the Instacart Marketplace. The announcement is in collaboration with today’s White House event that continues the work started at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health to help end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030.
During National Nutrition Month, Instacart is leveling the advertising playing field, making it possible for more produce brands, farms, and agriculture boards to advertise on Instacart and reach more consumers. By elevating produce with Instacart Ads, consumers now have more opportunities to discover nutritious food as they build their daily and weekly grocery baskets, search for a specific ingredient, and browse the digital aisles for inspiration.
“It’s essential that consumers have access to fresh, nutritious produce – whether they shop online or in-store,” said Ali Miller, Vice President of Ads Product at Instacart. “Online grocery offers a unique experience, helping brands deeply connect with and engage consumers as they explore new products or their usual staples across the digital aisles. With today’s launch, millions of consumers will now discover more fresh and nutritious options as they shop on Instacart, leveling the playing field for produce and making sure everything from fresh citrus to sweet potatoes are just as discoverable as packaged goods. I’m especially proud to celebrate these new capabilities during National Nutrition Month, as we do our part to help influence healthier eating habits.”
Instacart is the first company to enable this ad innovation for weighted items across grocery partners. Instacart developed algorithms to map these items back to brands and partners – addressing challenges like limited information from third-party sources and different coding systems across grocers. Instacart is addressing this complex industry challenge so more produce brands can take advantage of advertising solutions and help consumers discover more nutritious foods.
While packaged produce could be advertised before, this new expansion allows random weight items to be advertised through Instacart Ads’ sponsored product offering, which gives brands premium placements. The new ad capability will be available for all random weight foods found in Instacart’s grocery partners’ aisles, including fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, nuts, and deli items.
“For 130 years, Sunkist Growers has been focused on delivering quality, fresh citrus to consumers. In fact, Sunkist’s first advertisement celebrated California’s ‘Orange Day’ back in 1908,” said Christina Ward, Senior Director at Sunkist Growers. “In recent years, shopper behaviors have dramatically changed—at Sunkist, we are all about meeting shoppers where they want to buy. On Instacart, we have a seamless “add-to-cart” button to guide millions of people across the country towards our fresh Sunkist fruits, which are then delivered to their homes in as fast as an hour. We’re proud to innovate alongside Instacart to serve up even more fresh and healthy options online.”
“There’s so much to love about California Sweetpotatoes. Not only are they a designated superfood, but they fit any menu at all times of the year. During National Nutrition Month, we aim to celebrate and promote that sweetpotatoes are tasty, healthy, and easy to include in all kinds of cooking and all kinds of ways. Instacart has pioneered a new way for us to amplify sweetpotatoes online. We’re proud to be an early adopter of Instacart’s new ad capability to help promote fresher and healthier options across their Marketplace,” said Sarah Alvernaz of the California Sweetpotato Council.
“The ground-breaking ability now offered by Instacart to advertise produce by weight is a terrific opportunity to connect consumers with Grapes from California,” said Alyson Dias, Chief Marketing Officer of the California Table Grape Commission. “As we enter the third year of promoting California table grapes in partnership with Instacart, this new ability expands marketing opportunities and offers more ways for consumers to make healthier choices when online grocery shopping.”
Today’s launch comes on the heels of continued momentum for Instacart Health, including a special Community Carts campaign and discounted Instacart+ membership offer for SNAP recipients. Instacart Health is built to help increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving health outcomes. The recent initiatives were designed to support families and food banks across the country as emergency COVID-19 SNAP benefits expired in 32 states. Now using Instacart, anyone can donate groceries to food banks in states where emergency COVID-19 SNAP benefits have expired, with no delivery or service fees. Additionally, by extending the company’s discounted Instacart+ memberships for SNAP recipients, more families are able to put more food on the table.
Since 2020, Instacart has partnered with nearly 60 packaged produce advertisers to amplify their products and elevate the category. On average, Instacart’s packaged produce advertisers see a 30% increase in sales[1], meaning their ads influence more produce purchases. Packaged produce advertisers can leverage the full Instacart advertising toolkit, including sponsored product, display, shoppable video, promotions, and impulse ads. With this latest enhancement to Instacart advertising and catalog capabilities, produce brands can now amplify their full product set, including packaged and random weight produce.
For example, with impulse ads, Instacart is introducing a digital-first approach to last-minute buys during the checkout experience, including fresh produce brands. Bowery Farming, Love Beets, NatureSweet, Zespri Kiwifruit, and more now have access to new impulse-dedicated placements that give people fresher, healthier choices as they’re completing their checkout.
Partner Testimonials
Instacart works with a wide variety of produce brands and agricultural organizations to help them meet their objectives, from Bowery Farming to California Giant Berry Farms, Gotham Greens, Grapes from California, Love Beets, Mastronardi Produce, NatureSweet, Sunkist, Tasteful Selections, The California Sweetpotato Council, The Florida Department of Agriculture, Zespri Kiwifruit and more.
“We’re on a mission to reimagine the future of food, providing access to food grown smarter for more people in more places. Our work with Instacart has helped us do just that: reach and connect with more people shopping online. Instacart is a strategic partner, and we’re excited about their continued commitment to smart indoor farming. Together, we’re giving people more ways to discover more sustainable, pesticide-free and wildly flavorful produce online,” said Katie Seawell, Chief Commercial Officer at Bowery.
“During National Nutrition Month, we’re proud to celebrate our work to deliver the highest quality, sustainably grown berries year-round. Our work with innovative companies like Instacart helps us in our mission to provide fresh, nutritious berries to families everywhere. By leveraging Instacart’s advertising solutions, we’re able to amplify our berries to the top of the digital shelf, giving us the unique opportunity to connect and reach new consumers shopping online nationwide, while supporting our trade partners to successfully deliver our products through to the last mile,” said Kyla Oberman, Director of Marketing at California Giant Berry Farms.
“Gotham Greens is on a mission to transform how and where fresh produce is grown, bringing our brand of local and sustainably grown salad greens and herbs, along with our line of fresh plant-forward dressings, dips and cooking sauces, to more consumers across the country,” said Jodi Genshaft, Vice President of Marketing at Gotham Greens. “During National Nutrition Month and all year round, we’re pleased that Instacart’s advertising capabilities allow brands like Gotham Greens to help consumers discover, purchase and enjoy fresh, high-quality and longer lasting produce.”
“Since its launch, Love Beets has been redefining how people think about beets with an upbeat, fun, and modern brand and tasty products. Our partnership with Instacart’s innovative advertising offering has been important as we engage with beet lovers and beet newbies alike, introducing this versatile veggie to consumers as they’re shopping the aisles online. Love Beets is all about spreading the beet love and sharing products rooted in our passion for taste, quality, convenience, and health. We enjoy working with a partner like Instacart and aligning our values as we continue our journey in offering better-for-you products to more consumers and the Instacart community,” said Natasha Lichty, Brand and Marketing Director at Love Beets.
“Mastronardi Produce is a fourth-generation family-owned business that grows, distributes, and markets premium greenhouse-grown produce under our beloved SUNSET® brand. We’ve been on the leading edge of the industry for over 70 years, and now our work with Instacart is bringing our healthy and flavorful fruits and vegetables to more consumers as they conveniently shop online. We are excited to inspire healthy living by joining this platform where we can offer award-winning products like Angel Sweet® and Flavor Bombs® tomatoes,” said Kira Pocedic, Brand Manager at Mastronardi Produce Ltd.
“It’s great to see a new and healthy take on impulse purchases at the digital checkout. When people search for fresh produce on Instacart, we want to make sure NatureSweet shows up. As early adopters of Instacart’s impulse ads, we’re partnering to promote our fresh tomatoes in a ‘surprise and delight’ moment. We’re proud to continue innovating with Instacart to drive trial of our delicious snacking tomatoes and help people discover even more fresh and nutritious options as they grocery shop,” said Travis Laveault, Senior Digital Manager at NatureSweet.
“At the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, we aim to support and promote Florida agriculture, protect the environment, safeguard consumers, and ensure the safety and wholesomeness of food. Part of this mission is our role in promoting Florida’s hundreds of agricultural products across the U.S. and around the world. We are glad to see Instacart leading the technology sector to unlock their e-commerce advertising capabilities for a new category of fresh, farm-grown produce. Their technology and partnership allow us, as well as farmers, growers, and agricultural groups to amplify produce to consumers as they increasingly grocery shop online. In addition to helping people find the nutritious, healthful food they need to succeed, Instacart’s advertising capabilities help us support the farmers and growers across our state,” said Wilton Simpson, Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture.
Instacart is currently working with produce brands and agriculture boards during the pilot stages of random weight advertising, with general availability rolling out over the coming weeks.
About Instacart
Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 1,100 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 80,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of people to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders on their own flexible schedule. The Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade technology products and services to power their e-commerce experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores, provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart Ads, thousands of CPG brands – from category leaders to emerging brands – partner with the company to connect directly with consumers online, right at the point of purchase. With Instacart Health, the company is providing tools to increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving health outcomes. For more information, visit www.instacart.com/company, and to start shopping, visit www.instacart.com.
[1] Based on internal tests run across active packaged produce advertisers measured over 4 weeks ending on Feb 28, 2023 leveraging sponsored product. There can be no assurance that the outcomes for these tests can be maintained or replicated due to a variety of factors, some of which may not be within Instacart’s control or cannot be anticipated.