4 ms·

What you are saying is correct. But this comment is true for every startup out there.

koolba 10y ago
In this case though I don't see a secret sauce that keeps the customer with Instacart rather than going direct to the retailer. With something like Uber or Lyft, you're accessing a pool of drivers that can't immediately be created by a small competitor. Even in a local environment. With a grocery store I'm generally ordering from the same place repeatedly. If they offer the same service directly, I see no advantage to dealing with Instacart. Maybe if they integrate vertically but at that point they become a modern grocery store without a store front (I bet they're considering this already). But otherwise they're just tacking a markup on something the stores can do directly. Another example would be a maid service like Homejoy. It's great if you don't have a contact to begin with but once I've had a maid come to my house, I want the same person to come back again. It's in my interests (cheaper, same person) and the maid's interest (no commission to service) for it.
- kingbirdy 10y ago
  As far as Instacart vertically integrating, at that point they'd be competing with Amazon Fresh, and Amazon could likely muscle them out of the market
- err4nt 10y ago
  You did a really good job illustrating the idea we're all talking about this with the Uber/Lyft metaphor. It's hard being a 'value add'-only business, ultimately when things get competitive those people are going to go bankrupt first before the people actually holding the supply, even if they're suffering or hurting. It sounds like this sort of business can only exist in non-competitive spaces.
deleted 10y ago
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jdoliner 10y ago
If what you are saying is correct Startups would never succeed, but sometimes they do.
- simplehuman 10y ago
  But that is exactly my point. Any startup you name can be targeted with logic of GP saying 'big company X will easily gobble it up'

In this case though I don't see a secret sauce that keeps the customer with Instacart rather than going direct to the retailer. With something like Uber or Lyft, you're accessing a pool of drivers that can't immediately be created by a small competitor. Even in a local environment. With a grocery store I'm generally ordering from the same place repeatedly. If they offer the same service directly, I see no advantage to dealing with Instacart. Maybe if they integrate vertically but at that point they become a modern grocery store without a store front (I bet they're considering this already). But otherwise they're just tacking a markup on something the stores can do directly. Another example would be a maid service like Homejoy. It's great if you don't have a contact to begin with but once I've had a maid come to my house, I want the same person to come back again. It's in my interests (cheaper, same person) and the maid's interest (no commission to service) for it.

kingbirdy 10y ago
As far as Instacart vertically integrating, at that point they'd be competing with Amazon Fresh, and Amazon could likely muscle them out of the market
err4nt 10y ago
You did a really good job illustrating the idea we're all talking about this with the Uber/Lyft metaphor. It's hard being a 'value add'-only business, ultimately when things get competitive those people are going to go bankrupt first before the people actually holding the supply, even if they're suffering or hurting. It sounds like this sort of business can only exist in non-competitive spaces.

deleted 10y ago

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jdoliner 10y ago

If what you are saying is correct Startups would never succeed, but sometimes they do.

simplehuman 10y ago
But that is exactly my point. Any startup you name can be targeted with logic of GP saying 'big company X will easily gobble it up'