Instacart mixes online and in-person shopping with 'smart cart' feature

Residents in the state of California will soon be able to shop at the first connected stores from Instacart. The aim is to help grocery stores bring together elements of online ordering and in-store shopping for customers.

How will the customer experience be augmented?

Instacart says connected stores will create a unified, personalised experience for buyers by allowing them to move smoothly between the store’s app and its physical, in-store experience. The innovation has six new offerings: Caper Cart smart cart, scan and pay, lists, Carrot Tags, FoodStorm department orders, and out of stock insights.

All of those offerings are designed to make the shopping experience easier for customers. Instacart says the first connected store will open at Bristol Farms in Irvine, California.

Instacart considers selling employees' shares in IPO

The company plans to focus on the sale of employees' shares in its US initial public offering and does not intend to raise much capital for the company, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report added that the sale of mostly employee shares would allow Instacart's staff, including its earliest hires, to cash in on of some of the shares they have been accumulating and also help the company retain talent. The shares will be sold directly to new investors at an agreed-upon price ahead of a stock-market debut, according to the WSJ report.

Instacart's decision comes at a time when market volatility triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and soaring global interest rates have forced investors to pull back from backing IPOs. The company said in May 2022 it had confidentially filed with the US securities regulator to go public, not long after slashing its valuation by 40% following market turbulences.