Re:Sequoia Leads $8.5M Investment in Instacart
by flipperypokery on Thursday July 11, 2013 @11:38AM
(#6026712)
I'm not really convinced that this is an interesting feature.
People tend to choose store brands for a myriad of reasons, and stores tend to differentiate themselves based on those market divisions.
Paying a premium to get a single delivery with items from both (which is something that has a lot of logistical issues) doesn't seem like something with substantive draw.
Safeway already has their own online ordering & delivery service, however it doesn't allow you to bundle items from other (possibly competing) stores. Instacart allows you to pick (for example) 3 items from Safeway, 2 items from Trader Joe's, 1 item from Costco, and 6 items from Target ... all in the same delivery. It would take a joint venture / agreement among all the major retail chains to make that happen with their own services. Instacart's model is actually safer than it seems at first glance.