Third-party e-commerce players are bolstering their grocery game this year by expanding food retailer partnerships, and they are seeing sales booms from their grocery investments.
Instacart announced Wednesday that Whole Foods Market is now on its platform for same-day delivery in Canada. Instacart will soon offer delivery in as little as 30 minutes from all 14 Whole Foods stores in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Ottawa to customers in these greater metro areas.
The tie-up in Canada comes nearly five years after Instacart and Whole Foods ended their delivery partnership in the U.S.
Costco is now accepting SNAP online payments chainwide on Instacart’s marketplace and through the club retailer’s white-label website built and powered by Instacart, adding to the company’s growing list of retailers accepting that payment method. Instacart now reaches 96% of SNAP households in the U.S., according to Instacart.
Meanwhile, DoorDash and Uber, which added grocery services after initially focusing on restaurant deliveries, are ramping up their competitive edge.
Uber’s grocery and retail vertical generated $7 billion of annualized gross bookings, up roughly 40% from the same period last year on a constant-currency basis, — accounting for roughly 10% of delivery gross bookings — during the company’s fourth quarter, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in prepared remarks about its Q4 results.
“[W]e are strategically investing in Grocery & Retail. … For perspective, Grocery & Retail Gross Bookings accounted for 20% of Delivery’s overall YoY growth,” Khosrowshahi said in a statement.
The Q4 results marked the first time Uber has posted an annual profit since the company went public in 2019, The Wall Street Journal noted.
Ahold Delhaize USA announced Wednesday that its Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop banners will soon arrive on DoorDash and also be available on DashPass, DoorDash’s membership program. DoorDash service is already live for most customers at Giant Food, The Giant Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop, while Food Lion will pilot with DoorDash in February ahead of an expected launch in March.
“The speed and ease of DoorDash and its strong reputation for providing great customer service aligns with the priorities of each of our local brands,” Ahold Delhaize USA CEO JJ Fleeman said in a statement. “We look forward to delivering this new option for customers of our local brands – as well as new customers through DoorDash – and leveraging this partnership to enable our brands as they continue to drive omnichannel growth.”
Ahold Delhaize USA has worked with Instacart since 2019 and at the end of 2021 launched virtual convenience storefronts with delivery in as fast as 30 minutes.
Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. banners are joining more than 100,000 non-restaurant stores available on DoorDash’s marketplace and Drive platforms, the announcement noted.
DoorDash and Instacart have earnings calls scheduled for next week.
