But the back-to-school shopping season, Jones said, has furnished the opportunity to remind shoppers of just how large and diverse that network has become: “[We are] assuring folks that, no matter what it is that you need—whether you’re planning in advance or finding yourself the night before school, realizing that you need a backpack—we will be there for you.”
Now’s the right time for a message like that. According to Deloitte’s survey, 85% of parents have yet to cross off even half the items on their back-to-school shopping list, and 21% say they’re undecided over where to find the best deals. “Retailers have opportunities to direct shoppers to more profitable channels,” Deloitte’s paper observed.
To woo them, Instacart has slashed its annual Instacart+ membership fee by half, to $49 for the first year. As an added incentive, the grocery tech brand is also touting its new, AI-enabled search feature that makes items easier to find, choose and purchase. The campaign comes as other delivery services, such as DoorDash and Uber, have fought to gain ground in areas outside of the categories in which they originally established themselves.
Machine learning goes shopping
In the past, users had to know what products they wanted before using Instagram’s app. Now, AI sifts through the brand’s 11 years of proprietary shopping data to suggest pertinent items, including some that the shopper may not even know about. (Seeking a piece of the action, brands including Chobani, Lunchables and Skippy have partnered with Instacart on this effort.) The second video of the campaign, titled “School Lunches with Instacart,” demonstrates the sort of questions the AI tool can handle.
“Lunch my kindergartner can make?” asks mom.
“You got it, how’s this?” responds the app. “Sun butter and banana sandwich.”
Even if sunflower seed butter is not your jam, the AI feature can handle surprisingly nuanced queries like: “My child is at a nut-free school. What should I pack for lunch the next five days?”
Showcasing an AI feature, Jones explained, was a chance for Instacart to differentiate itself at a time when retail’s traditional lines continue to blur. Grocery stores sell back-to-school supplies; Walmart sells groceries; and Amazon, of course, sells everything.
“The category gets more crowded every day,” Jones said. “So it’s really important important for us to innovate and make sure that what we’re offering is ahead of the curve in terms of making people’s lives easier.”
Not coincidentally, the two spots end with the slogan: “Add life to cart.”