Press Release
The Save Mart Companies Announces Expanded Partnership with Instacart
Save Mart, FoodMaxx, and Lucky banners to leverage Instacart’s Caper Cart, FoodStorm, and Storefront Pro solutions to create omnichannel shopping experiences
SAN FRANCISCO and MODESTO, Calif., May 1, 2024 – Instacart (Nasdaq: CART), the leading grocery technology company in North America, and The Save Mart Companies, the largest regional grocer based in California, today announced their expanded omnichannel partnership featuring several Instacart in-store solutions such as Caper Carts, Instacart’s AI-powered smart carts, and FoodStorm, an order management system that powers food service and catering experiences purpose-built for grocery. The Save Mart Companies will also upgrade to Instacart’s Storefront Pro, bringing superior e-commerce capabilities with advanced advertising options to its business. This expanded partnership will improve the shopping experience for customers at nearly all 200 Save Mart, FoodMaxx, and Lucky locations.
“We’re committed to giving grocers the technology they need to better serve their customers, no matter how they choose to shop,” said Chris Rogers, Chief Business Officer at Instacart. “We’re proud to partner with The Save Mart Companies on innovative in-store and online solutions that enable them to create a truly omnichannel experience that helps their business grow and makes shopping more unified, engaging, and personalized for their customers.”
“As a seasoned grocer with deep California roots, we’re committed to delivering fresh, local, and quality products at affordable prices. Our collaboration with Instacart has significantly expanded our online presence, reinforcing these core values within our local communities,” said Tamara Pattison, Chief Digital Officer at The Save Mart Companies. “Embracing new revenue streams through Storefront Pro offers us a solid foundation to enhance our business online. By introducing Caper Carts and FoodStorm, we’re allowing customers to access what they love most about shopping online and bringing those elements into our stores. Whether it’s accessing coupons and deals on the carts or easily ordering the ‘farm-to-fork’ foods they know and love, we’re creating seamless experiences for our customers across online and in-store.”
The Save Mart Companies has long partnered with Instacart to enhance its omnichannel strategy. Now, with the debut of Instacart’s Caper Carts, FoodStorm, and Storefront Pro, the online and in-store shopping experience for customers is further connected. The Save Mart Companies first partnered with Instacart in 2019 to launch same-day delivery across its banners, and are now deploying a number of technologies to digitize its stores and serve its customers:
- Caper Carts, Instacart’s AI-powered smart carts, will roll out at select Save Mart and Lucky stores in the coming months, followed by a broader rollout later this year. Caper Carts transform shopping into a personalized experience by featuring an interactive screen that engages customers, tracks spending for budget management, and incorporates a loyalty program for direct access to coupons and deals, and more. For customers who are building their shopping list within the Save Mart or Instacart App, Caper Carts sync seamlessly to the feature and check items off the list as they are dropped into the basket. They also offer a unique advertising opportunity, allowing brands to connect with customers – who spend an average of more than 30 minutes shopping with a Caper Cart – directly in the aisles.
- FoodStorm, Instacart’s order management system that helps streamline retailers’ food service, perimeter offerings and catering operations, will roll out across Save Mart and Lucky stores. FoodStorm and Caper Cart customers can now place orders for made-to-order items like fried chicken or custom cakes and pies directly on the Caper Cart screen while they shop, and receive a notification once it’s ready for pickup, providing an effortless, in-store ordering experience.
- By upgrading to Storefront Pro, all three banners within The Save Mart Companies now have access to premium e-commerce features like customizable homepage and merchandising layouts, robust self-serve marketing tools, in-depth analytics, a dedicated Instacart support team, and support for third-party integrations such as coupons and loyalty programs. This upgrade also unlocks access to Carrot Ads, allowing Save Mart, FoodMaxx, and Lucky to create their own retail media networks. The Save Mart Companies previously used Instacart Storefront, an easy and affordable way for grocers of all sizes to get online and add e-commerce to their websites.
To access Save Mart, FoodMaxx, and Lucky for same-day delivery and pickup, customers can select the Save Mart storefront from the Instacart App or visit https://shop.savemart.com/, https://shop.foodmaxx.com/ or https://shop.luckysupermarkets.com/
For more information about Storefront Pro, Caper Carts and FoodStorm, visit www.instacart.com/company/platform.
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 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 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.
About The Save Mart Companies
The Save Mart Companies, a Kingswood Capital Management, LP portfolio company and a California-based grocer, operate 194 Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx stores in California and Western Nevada. In addition to its retail operation, the Company also operates SMART Refrigerated Transport and is a partner in Super Store Industries (“SSI”), which owns and operates a distribution center in Lathrop, and the Sunnyside Farms dairy processing plant in Turlock. Proud to be California’s largest regional, full-service grocery chain, the Company and its 13,000 associates take extra care to provide customers with the freshest foods for their families at affordable prices. For more information on the company, please visit: www.TheSaveMartCompanies.com.