Brave Commerce Podcast: Developing Strong Retailer Relationships

In this episode of Brave Commerce, Chris Rogers, chief business officer of Instacart, joins hosts Rachel Tipogaph and Sarah Hoffstetter to talk about how Instacart has grown as a Quick Commerce retailer, even after the pandemic. Rogers recalls his work experience with Apple and how he made the jump to Instacart when it was a much smaller company than it is today. Upon taking this potentially risky leap, he quickly saw the company scale to provide solutions to many consumers seeking delivery options amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Since the pandemic, Instacart continues to see growth, as has online grocery shopping. To capitalize on this growth, Instacart has made strides to become more accessible to all consumers by offering opportunities to save and matching in-store prices.

Instacart builds strong retailer relationships by positioning itself not as a competitor, but as an enablement tool. It aligns its incentives alongside the retailers and even help retailers activate shopping and advertising on its store websites. An example of this is its “Carrot Ads,” which Sprouts recently launched and other retailers plan to do soon.

Rogers also shares information about Instacart’s newest tool, “Ask Instacart,” which uses ChatGPT to help shoppers make grocery-related decisions as they shop. He delves into the applications that AI will have in the future of Instacart and how it can help shoppers discover products and make purchasing decisions.

Key takeaways:

• Quick commerce providers and retailers need strong relationships to drive mutual success.
• AI is a new frontier when it comes to purchasing decisions; tools like “Ask Instacart” may strongly influence consumer decisions in the future.
• Covid-19 pandemic growth does not have to plateau, there is still very much opportunity for growth in ecommerce.