Instacart Peels Past New Milestone: 1 Billion Bananas Delivered

Believe it or not, bananas are the top-selling grocery item delivered via Instacart in the United States and Canada, trumping all other grocery purchases by a longshot in terms of quantity. After holding the coveted #1 spot for nearly 11 years, this tropical yellow fruit recently reached a new and monumental milestone: more than 1 billion delivered via Instacart. Who knew bananas were so a-peel-ing, am I right? 

In celebration of National Banana Day today, Instacart is sharing a bunch of 🍌insights that are, well, absolutely B-A-N-A-N-A-S ⤵️

One billion is an unfathomable number for most people, so here’s a more visual breakdown. Instacart has sold enough bananas to…

🍌 Circumnavigate the surface of Earth 🌎 (24,855 miles) more than 5 times

🍌 Reach the top of 24,352 Mt. Everest’s stacked on top of one another 

🍌 Travel from New York City to Los Angeles (2,790 miles) more than 47 times

🍌 Equal the same height as 486,229 Empire State Buildings stacked

🍌 Cover a flight path more than halfway to the moon

“Bananas are the ultimate grocery staple for so many people and families, and because of that, we see the popular fruit show up in grocery orders like clockwork each week. In 2022, one in four carts contained bananas and this number has remained relatively consistent from year to year. As for the future popularity of bananas, they’re not going anywhere. They’re a completely trend-proof food that can serve as everything from an easy on-the-go Vitamin C snack or potassium boost to the foundation of a smoothie or a decadent treat best enjoyed with your favorite nut butter.” – Laurentia Romaniuk, Instacart’s Trends Expert. 

How do you like your bananas?

The perfect banana doesn’t look the same to everyone. One thing we’re sure of is that people care about how green (or not green) their bananas are, with nearly 40% of banana orders with special instructions containing the word ‘green.’ Whether Instacart customers are ordering green bananas for their picky toddlers or are thinking ahead to a week that doesn’t end in mushy brown bananas, it’s not lost on us that preferences in the banana department matter!

To round out the 1 billion banana fest, we looked at which states bought the most in 2022 as a share of grocery orders, and one thing’s for sure – the midwest is bananas for bananas. 😛 Let’s take a look…

Top 5 States with the highest share* of banana purchases:

1. Iowa
2. South Dakota
3. Minnesota
4. Colorado
5. Pennsylvania

Top 5 States with the lowest share* of banana purchases:

• Hawaii
• Louisiana
• Alaska
• Alabama
• Maine

Happy National Banana Day to those who celebrate. We hope you find a moment to peel back and relax! 🍌

*Instacart calculated the share of banana orders by dividing the number of orders from grocery retailers that contained bananas by the total number of orders from grocery retailers.

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.