Shownotes
In this Fast Five Short we discuss how Instacart has introduced new features for its smart shopping carts, including gamification, location-based coupons, and aisle-aware advertising. These enhancements aim to transform grocery shopping into a more engaging experience, encouraging consumers to embrace smart carts. The discussion delves into whether gamification can effectively motivate shoppers to adopt these new technologies and make their grocery trips more enjoyable. As the hosts share insights from their interview with Instacart's chief connected stores officer, they explore the challenges of achieving mass adoption and the potential benefits for both consumers and retailers. Ultimately, the conversation raises questions about the future of grocery shopping technology and how retailers can leverage these innovations to enhance customer experiences.
Takeaways:
- Instacart has introduced gamification and personalized coupons to enhance the grocery shopping experience.
- The effectiveness of gamification in driving consumer adoption of smart carts remains uncertain.
- Retailers still face challenges in getting consumers to consistently use smart carts effectively.
- Instacart's features aim to transform mundane grocery trips into more engaging and enjoyable experiences.
- The caper cart's adoption is growing, but it still lags behind competitors like Sam's Club.
- Retail media strategies need upfront capital investment, which can be a barrier for grocers.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Instacart
- Pepsi
- Sam's Club
- Grocery Dive
For the full episode, sponsored by the the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Ownit AI, Avalara, Mirakl, and Ocampo Capital, head here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0O2k1chOTM&t=501s
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcripts
Instacart has added games and personalized coupons to its smart cards.
Speaker B:Do you think the Instacart people can hear us over there?
Speaker A:I think they can.
Speaker A:I think they can.
Speaker A:I think they should.
Speaker A:Come on over.
Speaker B:We're talking about you, Instacart.
Speaker A:Come on over because we're gonna tell it like it is.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:According to Grocery Dive, Instacart announced Monday three new capabilities for its tech integrated shopping carts.
Speaker A:And are you ready?
Speaker A:One, gamification.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Two, location based coupons.
Speaker B:I like coupons.
Speaker A:And three, quote, aisle aware advertising format.
Speaker A:With the new features, customers can embark on interactive, quote, gamified quests that Instacart says will make grocery shopping feel like an adventure.
Speaker A:Yeah, I can't wait for that.
Speaker A:And yes, this is also our put you on the spot question of the week, which for those of you who have not heard our podcast, is the question that we get on the spot from the A and M consumer and retail group each and every week.
Speaker A:And here it is.
Speaker A:This week you interviewed Instacart's chief connected stores officer at grocery shop, Mister David McIntosh.
Speaker B:We did.
Speaker A:And discussed these enhancements from that conversation.
Speaker A:Do you believe that Capercart's gamification is an effective way to get consumers over the hump of using smart carts?
Speaker A:And can they truly, joyfully enhance two adverbs, truly, joyfully enhancement the standard grocery trip, which has been historically thought of as mundane and one to get through as quickly as possible?
Speaker B:Okay, so this is a very multi part question here, so let me break this down quickly.
Speaker B:Number one, do I think that gamification is going to get people over the hump?
Speaker B:That's a stretch for me.
Speaker B:I think that once they use it, then yes, you still got to get.
Speaker A:People to use it.
Speaker B:I think, like, like we talked to David about yesterday, like, yes, if you can get a streak going, yes, I would start to use the cart more frequently.
Speaker B:I mean, all the data that instacarts put together shows that once you start using these carts, you continue to use them.
Speaker B:The NPR or NP's score is high.
Speaker B:People get value from being served up coupons in real time as they're walking through the store.
Speaker B:So I like this idea.
Speaker B:I still think that from the retailers that we talked to that are using them, it's still getting people to use them.
Speaker B:So that's number one.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:I think that it will enhance the grocery shopping trip because you're getting money back in real time.
Speaker B:It's helping you get through the store.
Speaker B:And we both looked at the cart yesterday.
Speaker B:I have to say we're going to be on stage later today talking about what our most surprising technology is of the show.
Speaker B:And the caper cart is one of my most surprising technologies.
Speaker B:I've kind of written it off, and now we're looking at it again and seeing the benefits that it's providing.
Speaker B:I would say overall, I think that, yes, this is going to be a more joyful shopping experience.
Speaker B:Gamification is a cool way to do it.
Speaker B:It's still going to take some effort, though, to get mass adoption and scale.
Speaker B:What do you think, though?
Speaker A:Yeah, the cart's growing on me.
Speaker A:It really is.
Speaker A:The whole idea.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And you know what?
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:One of the most interesting sessions that I sat in was when Pepsi's vp of digital commerce was case studies for the application of retail media in store.
Speaker A:And it was funny because the two he singled out were the Sam's club scan and go app and the caper cart.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's because you can actually measure the impact that both of those are having.
Speaker A:So they're both a great conduit to achieve what you're trying to achieve, which is the personalized physical shopping experience.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But so the question to me still comes down to, and this is why it's great, because it's like, let's take the Pepsi challenge literally on which one of these ideas is best.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Sam's club sees 30% adoption on scanning.
Speaker A:Go.
Speaker A:Like I said before, Capercart's adoption is growing, but it's still not at that level.
Speaker A:David McIntosh said, what?
Speaker A:In their best store, 10% of transactions are going through the capercart.
Speaker A:So my thought exercise is, you know, why doesn't a grocer have the guts to do what Sam's club is doing and go all in on the cart?
Speaker A:Like, you could force the customers to use the cart.
Speaker A:They could still use the cart.
Speaker A:It's still a cart.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:They don't have to use the screen if they don't want to.
Speaker A:They can choose to.
Speaker A:But I wonder if there are other fundamental things that are preventing grocers from taking that approach.
Speaker B:It's an expensive cart.
Speaker A:It's an expensive cart.
Speaker A:You got to recharge the cart.
Speaker A:You got it.
Speaker A:There's nowhere to put a kid in the cart necessarily.
Speaker A:Without an add on, there's no place to put the water bottles as well.
Speaker A:The business model comes into play in terms of how instacarts work with the groceries, too.
Speaker A:So there's all these factors, but I'm waiting for the day where someone gets as auditions at Sam's club and says, let's take this Pepsi challenge and see what happens here.
Speaker A:Because I think, to your point, if people use it, yeah.
Speaker A:They really like it.
Speaker A:So let's get people using it.
Speaker B:More people like it.
Speaker B:They use it.
Speaker B:The retail media payoff is there.
Speaker B:40% of people are using the digital coupons from the cart that weren't before.
Speaker B:Like, there's clearly an ROI there.
Speaker B:It's just, how do you get the upfront capital to support it?
Speaker B:And, and which grocer out there of all of you in grocery shop land are going to try it first?
Speaker B:Chris dares you.
Speaker A:I dare you.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Right.