Instacart Pivots To Enterprise Tech As Rivals Gain Ground
You can order groceries, cleaning supplies, and even dog treats on Instacart, but you can’t order up a decent ROI this year. Shares are down 18.7% YTD as the delivery upstart struggles to fend off Uber and Amazon’s deep pockets. Now, a bold pivot toward enterprise tech is Instacart’s latest push for relevance — hoping it’s enough to keep shareholders from abandoning $CART for good.
- Instacart debuted a customizable AI shopping assistant — letting grocers build white-label chatbots that plan meals, suggest products, and automate checkouts for their customers.
- Unable to compete against rivals’ bigger discounts and broader reach, Instacart’s market share slid from 70% in 2022 to 58% in 2024 — losing partners to DoorDash in the process.
Falling knife? Instacart’s bid for sticky enterprise partnerships could buy it some time, as one-third of revenue already comes from business services like software and ads. By layering in camera-enabled shelf tracking and AI-powered courier management, the platform aims to lock in grocers and outpace competitors’ basic apps. Still, experts warn that Instacart lacks a real moat, so until it finds a way to stand apart, every new rollout risks getting carted away by rivals.
