6 ms·

Instacart launches Express – Amazon Prime for Groceries

43 points by apoorvamehta 13y ago

periferral 13y ago
i don't get this. For me, instacart delivery has always been free on orders over $35. What does express buy me?
- baddox 13y ago
  Perhaps you're in the express beta the article mentioned? I used Instacart a few times, and always had to pay the delivery fee unless they sent out a newsletter offering free delivery for one day for orders over ~$80 (which seems to happen a lot).
minimaxir 13y ago
In testing, Express members ordered from Instacart, again according to Mehta, two or three times weekly. The caveat to the Express deal is that delivery is only free on orders over $35. So Express members are spending $70-105+ per week on groceries? I guess Instacart must be a hit with families. For those kinds of users who spend $280-$420 per month on groceries, $99/year is relatively small.
- jmduke 13y ago
  Napkin math is saying that you'd only have to purchase thirteen orders a year (13 * 7.99 = roughly 104) at above $35 each to recoup your investment. Even for someone living alone, that's very easy to do.
  - MaxGabriel 13y ago
    All of my Instacart orders have cost $3.99 in shipping -- and that's for a shopper living alone whose office provides meals on weekdays.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
count 13y ago
Isn't AmazonFresh Amazon Prime for Groceries?
- libria 13y ago
  No; did you read the article? AmazonFresh does not offer benefits at a yearly fee similar to Prime. The closest thing it has to that is extra benefits for those who purchase $300 in a certain time frame (Big Radish).
messick 13y ago
The author of this piece doesn't seem to know much about Amazon's product offerings. Prime is free 2 day shipping along with some free video streaming. Fresh is the Grocery delivery service.
- dangrossman 13y ago
  Prime is a subscription you pay in exchange for free shipping from Amazon, and Express is a subscription you pay in exchange for free shipping from Instacart. Offering such a subscription had a positive impact on revenue-per-customer for Amazon, and Instacart may benefit from the same. The author seems to have made a fine analogy to me, and the fact that Amazon also has a separate grocery delivery service is completely tangential to his point.
jmduke 13y ago
Mehta, in a call with TechCrunch, stated that simply tacking on new cities to his company’s service doesn’t, in a sense, prove much; that’s just hiring. I think the whole idea behind geographic expansion is that it proves more people are willing to pay for service X or Y than just those living in the Bay Area, who are perhaps the most amenable cross-section of the country for a service like this. (Not advocating expansion for expansion's sake -- I think Instacart is making a wise choice -- but saying "It's just hiring" is disingenuous.)
- rdl 13y ago
  New York is probably even stronger than the Bay Area for this kind of service, but there are entrenched competitors there. College campuses, big industrial parks, and maybe military bases would be my next pick after NYC and SFBA. Another interesting market might be events -- during Sturgis, or Oshkosh, or other vents, running something like Instacart would work, while it wouldn't work in the same towns otherwise.
gergles 13y ago
It's just like Amazon Prime, except all the prices on Amazon aren't inflated by a ludicrous markup when compared to other online stores. (On top of a delivery fee or annual subscription.)
- stephengillie 13y ago
  This is probably partly due to Amazon's policy that the price you charge on their site is the lowest price you charge anywhere, for each item.
MattLaroche 13y ago
Instacart is a neat concept, but knowing that they charge more on items than the store charges irritates me enough that I don't use it. I'd rather pay a clear delivery fee and not feel that I'm paying extra for every item than have free delivery but a mark -up on every item. I know that financially it might come out to the same thing, but psychologically I get annoyed that they charge me $4.99 when Trader Joe's charges $3.99. I'm hoping they hit the scale where they can take some of their margin from the store (Trader Joe's specifically). Instacart Plus is a step in the right direction there.
username_9999 13y ago
I wish Instacart had delivery in my city. Oh well. You can always order groceries from Amazon, although its limited.
ultimoo 13y ago
"We deliver in the San Francisco Bay Area" I enter a Zipcode from downtown San Jose "Bummer! We don't deliver there... yet!" So typical. Nothing cool ever works in San Jose. :-(
- colmvp 13y ago
  Number of NHL teams in SJ: 1. Number of NHL teams in SF: 0.

43 points by apoorvamehta 13y ago

periferral 13y ago

i don't get this. For me, instacart delivery has always been free on orders over $35. What does express buy me?

baddox 13y ago
Perhaps you're in the express beta the article mentioned? I used Instacart a few times, and always had to pay the delivery fee unless they sent out a newsletter offering free delivery for one day for orders over ~$80 (which seems to happen a lot).

minimaxir 13y ago

In testing, Express members ordered from Instacart, again according to Mehta, two or three times weekly. The caveat to the Express deal is that delivery is only free on orders over $35. So Express members are spending $70-105+ per week on groceries? I guess Instacart must be a hit with families. For those kinds of users who spend $280-$420 per month on groceries, $99/year is relatively small.

jmduke 13y ago
Napkin math is saying that you'd only have to purchase thirteen orders a year (13 * 7.99 = roughly 104) at above $35 each to recoup your investment. Even for someone living alone, that's very easy to do.
- MaxGabriel 13y ago
  All of my Instacart orders have cost $3.99 in shipping -- and that's for a shopper living alone whose office provides meals on weekdays.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

count 13y ago

Isn't AmazonFresh Amazon Prime for Groceries?

libria 13y ago
No; did you read the article? AmazonFresh does not offer benefits at a yearly fee similar to Prime. The closest thing it has to that is extra benefits for those who purchase $300 in a certain time frame (Big Radish).

messick 13y ago

The author of this piece doesn't seem to know much about Amazon's product offerings. Prime is free 2 day shipping along with some free video streaming. Fresh is the Grocery delivery service.

dangrossman 13y ago
Prime is a subscription you pay in exchange for free shipping from Amazon, and Express is a subscription you pay in exchange for free shipping from Instacart. Offering such a subscription had a positive impact on revenue-per-customer for Amazon, and Instacart may benefit from the same. The author seems to have made a fine analogy to me, and the fact that Amazon also has a separate grocery delivery service is completely tangential to his point.

jmduke 13y ago

Mehta, in a call with TechCrunch, stated that simply tacking on new cities to his company’s service doesn’t, in a sense, prove much; that’s just hiring. I think the whole idea behind geographic expansion is that it proves more people are willing to pay for service X or Y than just those living in the Bay Area, who are perhaps the most amenable cross-section of the country for a service like this. (Not advocating expansion for expansion's sake -- I think Instacart is making a wise choice -- but saying "It's just hiring" is disingenuous.)

rdl 13y ago
New York is probably even stronger than the Bay Area for this kind of service, but there are entrenched competitors there. College campuses, big industrial parks, and maybe military bases would be my next pick after NYC and SFBA. Another interesting market might be events -- during Sturgis, or Oshkosh, or other vents, running something like Instacart would work, while it wouldn't work in the same towns otherwise.

gergles 13y ago

It's just like Amazon Prime, except all the prices on Amazon aren't inflated by a ludicrous markup when compared to other online stores. (On top of a delivery fee or annual subscription.)

stephengillie 13y ago
This is probably partly due to Amazon's policy that the price you charge on their site is the lowest price you charge anywhere, for each item.

MattLaroche 13y ago

Instacart is a neat concept, but knowing that they charge more on items than the store charges irritates me enough that I don't use it. I'd rather pay a clear delivery fee and not feel that I'm paying extra for every item than have free delivery but a mark -up on every item. I know that financially it might come out to the same thing, but psychologically I get annoyed that they charge me $4.99 when Trader Joe's charges $3.99. I'm hoping they hit the scale where they can take some of their margin from the store (Trader Joe's specifically). Instacart Plus is a step in the right direction there.

username_9999 13y ago

I wish Instacart had delivery in my city. Oh well. You can always order groceries from Amazon, although its limited.

ultimoo 13y ago

"We deliver in the San Francisco Bay Area" I enter a Zipcode from downtown San Jose "Bummer! We don't deliver there... yet!" So typical. Nothing cool ever works in San Jose. :-(

colmvp 13y ago
Number of NHL teams in SJ: 1. Number of NHL teams in SF: 0.