Instacart’s Impact: Delivering an Economic Edge for Retailers, Shoppers, Customers, and Brands

Every day, all across North America, Instacart is helping grocers and brands innovate, reach new customers, and scale their businesses. At the same time, we’re empowering hundreds of thousands of shoppers to earn on their own terms, all while saving customers millions of hours by connecting them to food and essentials without a trip to the store.

It all adds up to a staggering economic impact, one that we’ve never fully quantified — until now.

Today, we released the first ever Instacart Economic Impact Report, analyzing and publishing for the first time the economic impact our company has on all four sides of the Instacart marketplace: customers, shoppers, retailers, and brands. Since launching in 2012, for example, the report shows: 

• Instacart has added over 231,000 jobs and more than $8 billion in revenue to the grocery industry, including 66,000 jobs and more than $2 billion in added revenue at small grocery stores (1-49 employees)
  
• Instacart customers have saved over 700 million hours using the platform
  
• Instacart shoppers have earned approximately $15 billion

• Instacart helps more than 5,500 brand partners reach new customers and grow their businesses, driving an average of 15% incremental revenue lift  

The report also casts a light on the people and voices behind the numbers.

• “As a local, fourth generation family-owned supermarket chain, our goal is to remain innovative and competitive so that we can continue to serve our community,” said Bob Rybick, CEO at Geissler’s Supermarket. “Instacart is helping us access new technologies that improve our operations, so we can stay focused on providing access to fresh, local food and the best possible customer service.”

• “As a disabled United States veteran, shopping on the Instacart platform has been a true lifesaver,” said Benjamin C., an Instacart shopper in Brentwood, Pennsylvania. “Not only do my earnings help supplement my pension, but shopping provides much needed structure to my day and has helped me enter the middle class.” 

• “On top of the convenience that it offers, Instacart also helps me save money by providing easy access to value retailers and letting me shop without having to rent a car or pay for gas,” said Yassine N., an Instacart customer in Vancouver, Canada

• “Platforms like Instacart help level the playing field for small brands like ours,” said Denise Woodard, CEO, Partake Foods. “When you’re at this stage, there’s not room in the budget for big out-of-home campaigns or celebrity partnerships. With Instacart Ads, we can closely track ROl to optimize our spend, and reach so many retailers and regions of the country.”

As the leading grocery technology company in North America, we’re proud to have helped generate billions of dollars in shopper earnings and retailer revenue while giving invaluable hours back to millions of families — and we will keep building new products and technologies that deliver measurable, sustainable value for every member of the Instacart community. 

We’re on a mission to ensure everyone has access to the food they need and more time to enjoy it together, and we’re grateful to everyone who comes together every day through the Instacart platform to help deliver these economic impacts. Together, we will continue to nourish and strengthen local economies in the communities we serve.

Sarah Fleisch

Author

Sarah Fleisch is the Senior Director of Policy Research & Development at Instacart. In this role, she leads the development of Instacart’s core policy positions and proactive policy agenda. Sarah has a background in workplace policy, with a focus on public policy, job quality and women and the workforce. Prior to Instacart, Sarah worked at the National Partnership for Women & Families, and before that was an associate in the labor and employment practice group of a large D.C. law firm.