With people being encouraged to not leave the house to slow the spread of coronavirus, Instacart has become a lot more popular. The delivery service, which will bring customers items from Kroger (KR 0.33%), Walmart's (WMT 0.96%) Sam's Club, Target (TGT 0.88%), Costco (COST +0.11%), CVS (CVS 0.10%) and many other chains, plans to add 300,000 more shoppers in the next three months.
The company has been experiencing increased demand as people look to stock up on staples. For some of its retail partners, Instacart is the only delivery service that consumers can use to get same-day delivery from those chains (though same-day has been hard to come by in some markets due to increased demand).
Instacart plans to add 300,000 shoppers. Image source: Instacart.
What is Instacart doing?
It's important to note that Instacart's partners vary by region. In most cases, its deals with national brands like Target, Sam's Club, and CVS apply nationwide, but there are exceptions. The delivery service also works regionally with a number of grocery chains.
"Given the continued customer demand we expect over the coming months, we'll be bringing on an additional 300,000 full-service shoppers to support cities nationwide," CEO Apoorva Mehta wrote in a letter to employees.
A major player
Instacart has become the delivery arm of a number of grocery chains around the country, and that allows more people to stay home to slow transmission of coronavirus. Target and Costco have other delivery options for groceries (though, in some cases, especially for the warehouse club, they are limited). In this time of need, it seems likely that consumers are benefiting from Instacart adding capacity, even when it's a supplement/option and not the only game in town.
